Bedtime Stories
by roxystyle011
Summary: Beth is babysitting and the kids want to hear a bedtime story, so she tells them the story of how her parents got together. Faberry.
1. Once Upon a Time

**I've had this story for a while and I realized that I needed to get it out before season 3 airs. Sorry for any mistakes, I've read it so many times that I'm sure I missed things. Hope you like it! It's four parts total.**

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><p>Beth is one of the few girls her age that really doesn't mind babysitting during her summer vacation. Sure, she enjoys going out with her friends most nights, but she also has a weird appreciation for having nights where she can just take it easy. There is something about it all that makes her feel good about herself. She's needed and she's trusted, both of which are hard to come by at seventeen. Okay, sixteen and a half. She'll be getting her license soon, she'll be visiting colleges, and before she knows it, she'll be going to college. The thought scares her more than she cares to let on. She isn't sure she's ready for that next stage of her life, mostly because she can never imagine herself on a college campus. Not that she doesn't want to go, it's just that she can't yet picture herself in a dorm room watching TV marathons with her roommate when she should be studying. She also couldn't imagine herself going to high school, and that had worked out just fine.<p>

But still, she knows how to appreciate the moments before they pass her by. She supposes that she'll miss her small town of losers when she has to leave it in two years, but she'll probably miss moments like these more. The moments when she feels a sense of pride about who she is and how she was raised. The few families that she babysits for are somewhat regulars and she knows how to handle the kids, and it isn't exactly hard considering all the kids absolutely adore her. That's why she rarely passes up a chance to babysit, it's easy and she's at least making some cash for when she has to start buying her own things.

She often wonders if she has an invisible magnet around her that attracts kids to her, it's a silly notion but she really doesn't know how to explain it. Perhaps it's because her mother had her at almost the same age that Beth is now. Could things work like that? Was it genetic? Regardless, as her summer wears on and she starts researching colleges, she finds herself looking for schools with both a strong musical program and an equally strong education program. Maybe she can work out a double major? She's a Fabray, and Fabrays get what they want.

The sounds of the two year old boy screaming on the couch next to her makes her heart drop for a split second before she takes in the situation. His older sister is just teasing him and the crisis can be easily diverted, thankfully.

"Leave him alone, Julianna."

"It's not _my_ fault that he's not tall enough to reach it."

Beth stands from the arm chair and holds her hand out expectantly, "Don't steal your brother's blanket and hold it above your head."

Julianna sticks her tongue out at her babysitter before she tosses the blanket back towards her baby brother and goes back to watching the _Disney_ show that has been keeping her occupied almost the entire night. Beth's job has been fairly easy so far.

Beth watches with a small amount of amusement as the blanket doubles as a magic trick and silences the boy. She glances at the clock above the stove in the kitchen and realizes that it's nearly their bed time.

"TV goes off in five minutes and then it's time for bed."

It's a pre-emptive strike that she _has _to make or else the oldest will connive her way out of anything. She needs to be warned at least once.

"But it's the summer," The girl whines.

It's a valid statement but she has never allowed a kid to be awake when their parents got home and she's not about to break her perfect record tonight.

"Bed in _five_," Beth reiterates as she fixes the boy a bottle.

His eyes come to life as Beth stands in front of him with the bottle of watered down apple juice and he immediately holds out his arms for her to pick him up. She carries him up the stairs and brings him into his bedroom, she puts on the light classical music that he normally falls asleep to, plugs in the night light, and shuts the door. She guesstimates that it took about five minutes total so Julianna shouldn't give her a problem.

She couldn't have been more wrong.

"But it's _summer._"

Beth bites her tongue, she knows what it was like to have her freedom taken away during the summer.

"I understand but it's also almost nine o'clock."

They've been arguing back and forth for nearly an hour, a testament to how conniving the six year old can be.

Beth has turned off the television six times and she's mere minutes from losing her cool. And she _rarely_ loses her cool around children. But Emerson finished his bottle twenty minutes ago and still hasn't fallen asleep, so he's been crying for twenty minutes straight. She not only sees it on the video monitor, but hears it on the audio monitor in the kitchen, and can hear him upstairs. Her patience is thinning by the second.

"Upstairs. Now."

"You're the _worst_ babysitter in the _whole_ world!" the girl yells and stomps towards the staircase.

Beth flinches as she hears the girl's bedroom door slam and tries not to let those words affect her too much. She's an awesome babysitter every other time. She takes a few deep breaths before lightly jogging up the stairs to tend to the crying two year old. Normally the protocol is to let the boy cry until he tires himself out but she rarely lets that happen. She picks him up and instead of ceasing the waterworks, he just continues to cry. This has never happened before. She goes to her back up plan and that's to sing him a lullaby. She knows her voice is soothing, she's in three different chorus groups both in and out of school, she can't even count how many solos she's had so far in her life.

She tries another song, and another, but the boy continues to cry. She knows what she has to do but she isn't quite sure she wants to sell her soul to the devil.

"What do _you_ want?"

Beth balances the crying toddler on her hip, "You have to get him to stop crying."

"Did you sing to him?"

"Of course."

"Why should I help you?"

Beth isn't sure when the tiny brunette went from being an angel to something resembling Satan but she's desperate. She hates when kids cried.

"I'm desperate, I'll do anything."

"Anything?"

Red flags go off in the back of her mind. She's seen enough movies to know what that word means, _especially_ in the tone of voice the girl just used.

The boy continues to wail in her arms as she alternates from rocking back and forth to doing a funny jig.

"Anything."

"Hmmm."

Beth closes her eyes and silently prays to the high heavens for Julianna's request to be somewhat reasonable.

"I want a bedtime story."

Beth stops her weird dance and looks at the girl in confusion, "A bedtime story?"

The girl nods as she puts the picture book she was looking through down and scoots further up her bed and under the covers. Granted Julianna is only six but she acts like a twelve year old on most days. For some reason, Beth thought she'd be _too_ old to want to hear a lame bedtime story.

Oh, what the hell.

"Fine."

Julianna holds her arms out and Beth puts the boy on the bed next to his older sister.

"Emerson! Do you want to hear a _story?_"

The boy's cries are dying down a significant amount as his face turns towards his sister's. Beth watches in awe as Julianna speaks to him in a baby friendly voice and begins to wonder if he even understands her or if it's just the familiar way she's saying it. Regardless, it works.

Beth laughs to the ceiling and whispers a _thank you_ before moving towards the girl's bookshelf in the corner of her room.

"What do you think you're doing?"

"Picking out a bedtime story?"

"You have to make it up!"

Beth rakes through her brain for some kind of cute bed time story. Sure there are thousands but she's pretty sure a six year old will recognize one of the dozen _Disney_ tales that she's thinking of.

"I don't know any bed time stories."

Beth watches with panic as Julianna begins to push her brother towards the edge of the bed for their babysitter to take. His tears aren't even dry yet and he's about to start with round two.

"Okay, okay. I'll make one up."

Julianna smiles and pulls Emerson back towards her. It's a serious touch-and-go situation.

Beth sits at the edge of the bed and smoothes down the pink comforter as she tries to think of something, _anything,_ that will be suitable enough for a six year old. Or, at least, interesting enough. She has her title at stake here. She can't be known as the worst babysitter in the whole wide world for another minute. She'll show the girl that there will never be another babysitter like her.

Beth's mom would sing her to sleep almost every night to the song she was named after, and sometimes her real dad would occasionally play along with a guitar. There were only a few nights that she was ever told a bedtime story, and she was _sure_ that they would love it as much as she did growing up.

"Alright, I've got the _best _bed time story in the _whole_ world. Are you ready?"

Julianna nods eagerly and Beth chuckles as the boy tries to mimic her movements.

Beth is going to tell them the story about how her parents got together. She'll have to be quick and clever to make it easy to follow and easily adaptable to their age group but she doesn't think that it will be a problem. It was not too long ago that she was all about _once upon a times_ and _happily ever afters_.

"Okay well, there was a girl—"

"Wait!"

"What's wrong?"

"You have to start with _Once upon a time._"

Beth smiles and ruffles the girl's brown hair before getting more comfortable on the bed, "Once upon a time…" she winks when she sees Julianna smile wide, "There was a beautiful Queen, who ruled the land. No wait, a princess," Beth stops to think, "She was the Queen Princess, and she ruled the land of McKinley…"

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><p>Quinn had been running around all morning. No, all <em>month<em>, for this party. It was her mother's idea and the day of her daughter's first birthday was finally here. She looked down at the list in her mother's elegantly scripted black cursive and squinted her eyes. Okay, so she knew that someone's first birthday was a big deal, but it wasn't like her daughter would even remember it. Although, she supposed that was why her mother had hired a video production team to capture _every_ moment. Since when did the Fabray residence turn into a reality TV program?

Quinn didn't understand the need to have two different piñatas, a chocolate fountain, a DJ _and_ a band, a petting zoo, and a bounce house. Her mother had finally lost her marbles. She knew right away that the boys would alternate between drinking from the chocolate fountain and playing _who's the strongest_ with the piñata. She could already _see_ her younger cousins taking the various farm animals for a ride, and she was positive that the bounce house was going to have a hole in it before the food was served. But this was for her baby daughter, and she was Quinn's entire life. Even if she had video tapes stacked as high as the ceiling for evidence that this day occurred, she couldn't _wait _to tell her all about how unbelievably happy everyone was to be there. And you know what? She didn't get a baby shower so make that _three_ piñatas.

Two pastry shops, three party stores, and four grocery markets later, Quinn was in her backyard surrounded by her good friends, most of her family, and the people she cared about most in the world. Especially her daughter.

But something was off, she didn't realize it right away but the feeling didn't leave her. It was like a small fruit-fly that was teasing her in front of her face but never to be caught when swatted at. It unsettled her, something was definitely not right. But she made constant mental check lists in her head as the party continued on. She remembered to say hi to her third cousin from Iowa, she hung up her wet towel from her shower earlier, Beth had everything she could possibly need, and everyone had smiles on their faces. She was just being silly. She always thought she forgot something when she was about to travel somewhere, too. And she often felt like she forgot something when she'd leave Beth home with Judy on those _rare_ Saturday nights that she'd go out with friends. Everything was fine…everything was perfect.

It wasn't until after the cake had been devoured, the bounce house deflated, the chairs stacked, the tents taken down, the presents opened, the relatives gone, the caterers paid, and the Judy knocked out that she figured it out. It wasn't until long after Quinn finished the last note to Beth's song that she realized what had been missing.

Rachel Berry didn't show up to her daughter's first birthday.

"_What's a Royal Jester?"Julianna asks Beth with eyebrows so scrunched together that she can't help but giggle at the six year old._

"_It's someone who performs for the townspeople of McKinley."_

_Julianna frowns, "Why didn't the Royal Jester attend the Birthday Festival?"_

"_Shh, you'll see Jules. Now, where were we? Ah, yes. The birthday extravaganza was over and the Queen Princess had to get back to her royal duties…"_

Quinn was tired Monday morning. She'd been up late virtually the entire week prior trying to pin down last minute arrangements for the party and ever since discovering that Rachel didn't show up, she'd been trying to come up with reasons why. She even went as far as sifting through all the RSVP responses to see if Rachel ever planned to attend the party.

She had in fact planned to attend, so the blonde continued to come up with plausible excuses. Sure, she'd been furious at first but her nerves calmed when she realized who she was talking about. Rachel Berry was never tardy, and in turn that meant she was never absent. There was probably a valid explanation for it all. Maybe there was a family emergency? No, because then she'd call. What if she couldn't call? What if she'd been kidnapped? No, because there would have already been flyers on every street sign and open canvas in the small town. She could have been sick in bed, or maybe Berry finally grew some balls and did something rebellious enough for her to be grounded without use of a phone.

Whatever the reason, Quinn was sure that she'd get a seven page hand written apology letter before homeroom. Berry was always thorough like that.

What she got instead surprised her, because what she got was silence. Not even a bat of an eyelash, or a hint of acknowledgement as the students congregated on the second floor near their lockers before the bell rang signaling the start of another long week at McKinley. Quinn slammed her locker shut and made her way to homeroom. Maybe Rachel hadn't seen her standing a few lockers down. Yeah, she was probably just guilt stricken and still thinking of a good way to apologize.

Most of her morning classes flew by but she found that instead of listening to her teachers she was either making up more excuses for the brunette or actually periodically watching her as she participated in class from across the room. After each class her plan was to catch up to Rachel and interrogate her until she cracked, but either the brunette stayed after to talk to the teacher causing her to arrive late to her next class or she'd get lost in the mobs of McKinley after quickly leaving the room. But this was normal behavior for Rachel, she was an over-achiever so it was no surprise when she'd stay after to talk to their teacher. Quinn refused to let this get to her because it wasn't proof that Rachel was avoiding her, it was just proof that this was the normal routine. Quinn and Rachel rarely gave each other the time of day unless they needed something from the other one.

Lunch approached and at least then she knew that she could put up a façade and fake her way over to the girl's lunch table with false pretenses. At least the occupants of the table didn't look immediately frightened as the shadow of the cheerleader loomed over them. Maybe her daughter's first birthday doubled as a peace treaty amongst the group, maybe they'd finally feel comfortable enough to approach her outside of glee. She was tired of conversing with people that wore the same thing as her every day.

Rachel continued to unwrap her lunch before taking out a green notebook that Quinn recognized from their English class, and it was only because the blonde also color coordinated her classes. Quinn chatted mindlessly with Mercedes as she watched Rachel divulge herself into her daily journal assignment and occasionally take bites from her sandwich.

Well, maybe she forgot that the party was that weekend. That happened to Quinn before when she forgot Brittany's birthday party. But in her defense, it was the fifth birthday party that Brittany had that year. Santana should've just asked Mrs. Pierce what day Brittany was born instead of throwing a last minute party every time the girl would announce it was her birthday.

"I'm glad you all had fun this weekend, I'm sure Beth is going to love the video that you guys gave her."

"Did you watch it yet?" Artie asked.

"I've been kind of busy," She admitted, she had every intention of sitting down to watch it but she got kind of distracted, "But I can't believe I didn't know about it."

"Well it was Rachel's idea."

Ah, so further proof that Rachel planned on going to the party.

The video she was referring to was a small video that the group made of them singing a few songs to Beth, as well as a few solo songs that they wanted her to hear. And of course, each member sent their birthday wishes and personalized messages of wealth, health, and happiness for the rest of her life. All Sue Sylvester sent her was a contract for her to sign that said she had a guaranteed try-out for the Cheerios when she entered High School. Quinn ripped it up as soon as she opened it.

"It was really nice of you guys," Quinn replied and waited for Rachel to look up and start explaining how she came up with the idea or went about accomplishing it behind the blonde's back, but nothing came. She continued her English short answer questions and acted as if the conversation wasn't even happening.

Quinn refused to be the first one to crack, she wasn't going to come right out and demand an explanation, she had more grace than that. Besides, Rachel was the one that messed up so she should apologize. Quinn was stubborn, but she soon found out that Rachel could be just as stubborn.

The rest of the day, Quinn tried to talk about Beth or her birthday party to anyone that would listen as long as Rachel was within earshot. Was Rachel wearing earplugs or invisible headphones? Why wasn't she responding or even acknowledging what Quinn was talking about?

By the time glee club rolled around at the end of the day, she was seconds away from initiating one of Sylvester's self-proclaimed ethical torture methods that she practiced on competition caught spying on their practices. It wasn't even about finding out why she'd blatantly skipped the birthday party, it was finding out why the brunette seemed to not even care. Deep down Beth probably wouldn't even give a cry about who showed up to her first birthday, it was Quinn's feelings that were hurt. She had her mask, she just wanted to defend Beth's defenseless honor, but in reality, she just wanted to know why Rachel was acting so indifferent on bailing.

Rachel naturally stayed after glee practice to hassle Mr. Schuester about something and Quinn made the last minute decision to stay after as well. The blonde stood at the piano as she watched both her teacher and Rachel go back and forth about assignment ideas that Rachel thought of over the weekend. Over the weekend when she didn't show up to Beth's birthday party, Quinn mentally seethed. Every so often Schuester would send Quinn a look of apology that the conversation was taking so long, she supposed that he assumed the blonde was there to talk to him. As if. She wanted to know what the hell was going on with the crackhead across from her.

Schuester bolted from the room as soon as Quinn made it clear that her business had to do with Rachel. Good, no one to witness her strangling the singer should she continue to stay silent.

"How was your weekend?"

Silence.

"Mine was good. Beth's birthday was fun, too. Come to think of it, you weren't there. Why didn't you go to my daughter's birthday party, Berry?"

Rachel continued to pack her school bag and fish out her car keys before turning to look at Quinn.

Quinn wanted to take a step back when she was met with the cold and empty brown eyes that were normally sparkling with life. She had the overwhelming urge to feel guilty for something but she'd done nothing wrong. She wasn't even mean when she asked her. And it was a simple question. Rachel's mouth opened and for a second it looked like Quinn would get her explanation but at the last minute her mouth snapped shut and the auto-pilot took over her body again before Quinn could question Rachel's pained expression. It was the first time in— well, now that she thought about it, almost a week that she'd been acknowledged by Rachel. That she'd been face to face with her. Why hadn't she noticed? Maybe it was because she was so preoccupied with the party arrangements that she thought nothing of it.

How could this silence between the two of them be the most meaningful conversation she's had all day?

"You could apologize," Quinn's voice came out low and needy, she'd wanted it to be just as indifferent and disappointed as Rachel's expression.

Rachel shook her head an inch before closing her eyes, stepping past Quinn, and walking out of the room. Quinn didn't turn to watch her leave, and she didn't move from her spot until she heard the janitor whistle as he swept the hallway. She turned and looked down at her white knuckles grasping the black piano. She shouldn't feel this affected by Rachel's silence, and she shouldn't feel so emotionless after being penetrated by those eyes that were so eerily unfamiliar to her. She had no idea how any of this happened, or what to make of any of it.

All she knew was that Rachel Berry was ignoring her and she had the overwhelming urge to find out what she did to warrant that reaction.

"_Is the Royal Jester going to get in trouble for ignoring the Queen Princess?" Julianna asks with wide eyes, "Why is the jester ignoring her? Is the jester mad at her?"_

_Beth chuckles and pats the girl's ankle to calm her down, "You have to listen," She reminds her, "So, the Queen Princess decided to consult her Loyal Listener…" _

Baby Beth turned out to be a phenomenal listener, Quinn learned later that night as she let out all her frustrations.

"I mean, look how cute you are! Who _wouldn't_ want to come to a party to celebrate your life?" Quinn asked as she tickled the infant's stomach.

Quinn rested her forearms on the side of the crib and rested her chin on top of them, she let out a heavy breath as she watched Beth suck on her favorite pacifier. She looked up at her mother like she was the coolest thing in the world. Quinn laughed and brought her hand down so that the baby could grab hold of it. Why couldn't everyone look at Quinn that way? She felt both incredible amounts of sadness that her child was already growing up so fast but entirely happy that she'd made the right decision in keeping her. She almost wanted to crawl in the crib with her just to be closer to her. Instead, she settled on picking the girl up and sitting with her in the rocking chair in the corner of the room. She'd sing to her.

The next morning, Quinn waited at her locker until she saw the brunette arrive at hers. Quinn shut her locker and assumed the power position, she didn't want Rachel to see her confidence faltering.

"Berry."

Rachel let out a small sigh and pulled her locker open. Quinn frowned as she was met with the colorless metal door and pushed herself off the locker she'd been leaning against to come up around the brunette's other side. She bit her tongue from commenting on Rachel's blatant rudeness.

"Silent treatment?" Quinn asked, "Cute."

Rachel continued to unload her books to their appropriate spots before she began gathering the ones she needed for her first three classes. She acted as if Quinn wasn't standing right next to her. Normally, everyone at least flinched when the blonde invaded their personal space.

"Not that I care but is there any particular reason?"

Rachel closed her locker and trotted off to her class and this time Quinn stood stunned as she watched her go. Rachel got to her door just as the bell was ringing and the blonde realized that she was now suddenly late for her own homeroom class. She scowled in the general direction of Rachel's classroom and hurriedly made her way to her own class. She still had the rest of the day to get Rachel to crack, she wasn't worried.

Except, she _was_ worried. Especially once glee rolled around, because Rachel was able to dodge every single one of Quinn's attempts, and it often left the blonde both looking and feeling foolish. But now, she not only managed to ignore Quinn but she managed to stay entirely silent in the company of other people, too. Even Mr. Schuester scratched his head in confusion when Rachel made no attempt to raise her hand to share what she had prepared for that day's lesson.

Quinn couldn't understand it as she sat on the top riser next to Santana and Mike, Rachel had managed to do the unthinkable. She somehow managed to stay silent almost the entire day, or at least, when the blonde was around.

She kept to herself in the classes that Quinn shared with her, and she didn't even once try to raise her hand to answer any of the teachers' questions. Fine, maybe Rachel was tired of constantly showboating or maybe she just didn't know the answers.

But the brunette was nowhere to be found during lunch time. And Quinn knew via Mercedes who heard from Tina that Rachel was in the library finishing up her lab report for Physics. _Lies_, Quinn thought, after she went through her syllabus for the marking period and found that all their Physics labs were done for the year. What the hell?

"Physics lab? At least use a class that we don't share together," Quinn said as she cornered the girl after their Physics class two periods after lunch.

Rachel simply just kept walking, not bothering to turn around to offer Quinn any kind of explanation. Quinn followed her to her locker though, not ready to give up.

"Okay, joke's over. I get it, you're ignoring me. Congrats, you've accomplished what you wanted. Happy now?"

Quinn smirked when she saw Rachel falter a bit as she reached her locker. So she wasn't indestructible. Quinn waited to see what Rachel would have to say for herself. And when the brunette continued to pick out her books without any sign of hearing Quinn, the smirk slid from her face. Who does she think she is? Ignoring Quinn Fabray? If anything, the brunette was the one that should be ignored.

"What is your freaking problem?"

Rachel offered nothing. Not a shrug and she didn't even spare a look towards her. Not that she'd gotten anything out of her since two days prior in the choir room. Quinn had enough. She slammed the girl's locker closed with brute force and narrowed her eyes at the side of Rachel's head. Quinn thought that maybe intimidation would do the trick, but the brunette still didn't even turn to look at her. She stared dazed out at the front of her now closed locker door a little startled.

Rachel shut her eyes tightly as if she was repeating a mantra over and over in her head, and when she opened them again she turned and walked the opposite way of her classroom. Quinn guiltily watched in History as Rachel took an unprepared for not having her text book, or the chapter questions that they had to do the night before. Instead of offering a ten minute long explanation or attempting to point an accusatory finger in Quinn's direction in order to blame the confrontation in the hallway, she just took out another notebook and began copying down the notes. For once in her life, Quinn wished that she wasn't smart enough to take the Honors classes because virtually all of her core classes were shared with Rachel.

She found herself not so much expecting for Rachel to confront her about making her unprepared but _hoped_ that she would. Something, _anything_ to acknowledge the blonde. At least, get mad, or storm off. But she just gathered her books and quietly made her way to her next class which was luckily not shared with Quinn. The blonde didn't even think she could take it, and it was bugging her to no end that Rachel thought she could keep up this charade. Not on Quinn's watch.

There was no way that Rachel could stay silent _again_ during glee. That was something that Quinn was sure of and that was why she was glaring at the back of her brown hair as she'd already gone forty five minutes without so much as a word to anyone. She didn't even sing! What was going on in the world? Did Quinn fall on her head after she'd gotten out of the shower and end up in an alternate universe? One in which had her not only being ignored by the lowest person on the social ladder but actually _caring_ that she was being ignored? There was no other explanation.

Summer was in a week and then they'd be seniors. Quinn had every intention of spending every second with her daughter. She loved the weekends during the school year like any other high school kid but not for the same reasons. She loved lying on the pink blanket with Beth as she played with random toys, or bringing her to the park on the exceptionally nice Spring days and she couldn't wait to bring her in the pool with her. She shouldn't have to worry about Rachel Berry ignoring her the week before summer started, because she had other stuff to worry about.

But she realized that if she didn't get Rachel to at least speak to her than she'd be wondering all summer. And she didn't want to spend her summer worrying about the brunette.

"_Why won't she talk to her? Everyone has to talk to the Queen Princess!"_

_Beth laughs as the little boy next to her also mimics her yelling, "So the Queen Princess began questioning some of the townspeople…"_

Quinn found Mercedes by her locker the next morning after she'd tried to talk to Rachel first.

"Have you noticed anything different about Rachel?"

Mercedes finished her text to someone and raised an eyebrow towards Quinn and laughed, "Why do you care?"

"I don't. She's been acting differently. Just…quieter than usual, that's all."

Mercedes shrugged and shut her locker door, "Maybe, but it's a nice change."

Quinn wished that she could agree.

"Whatever, just ask her if she's alright or whatever."

Mercedes didn't understand Quinn sometimes but she didn't bother to question her concern.

She found Finn at lunch after searching the cafeteria for the brunette, who apparently was now working on her final History presentation. At least she'd chosen something that they actually had due.

"What did you do to Rachel?"

"I don't know, what did I do?"

Quinn rolled her eyes, going to Finn was probably a bad idea.

"She's sulking like an idiot. Did you say something to her?"

"Um," The boy scratched his head, "No, actually. I haven't talked to her in a while."

"Well maybe you should talk to her so she's not depressing everyone," Quinn shot back before leaving his cafeteria table.

She didn't even bother with Santana or Brittany. And Puckerman was normally useless. Tina, however, was like her best friend or something.

"Tina, you're good friends with Rachel right?"

"Rachel? Rachel who?"

"Um, Berry?"

"Oh, I didn't— Sorry, kinda. I wouldn't say good friends but—"

"Has she been acting weird lately?"

"Not more than usual." Tina laughed, "Why?"

"Just wondering."

She walked away from Tina and took her seat just as Rachel entered the choir room with a trailing Finn.

Another day went by without a word from Rachel and Quinn was out of options. But, by the end of the week almost everyone was commenting on how weird Rachel was acting.

"Maybe someone glued her mouth shut," Puck threw in.

"Are you a moron?" Quinn snapped.

"What? It's not like that's not something you would do."

"Yeah seriously, I'm confused as to why you even care."

"Yeah, didn't you get someone to slushie her yesterday?"

Quinn sat in silence. It was a moment of weakness and one that she deeply regretted. She felt claustrophobic and out of options. Maybe Rachel would finally react if Quinn treated her poorly. She tried being nice, she tried intimidation, she even tried being overly nice by holding doors open for her, and the only thing that she didn't try was being the bitch everyone still believed Quinn to be. No amount of showering could wash away the disgusted feeling she felt, she entirely lost her appetite and she didn't even feel worthy enough to be in the same room as her daughter. She was utterly disappointed in her stupidity. She thought that maybe if Rachel reacted than she'd talk to Quinn and then she could apologize to her for both the slushie and whatever it was that she did to warrant the silent treatment. But Rachel didn't react. She didn't even look down the hallway in Quinn's direction. And Quinn felt even sicker to her stomach when she saw Rachel at the end of the day still in the same clothing. It had been that long since anyone had been hit with a slushie that she didn't even feel the need to bring a change of clothes. Quinn was an absolute monster.

"I apologized for that, it was a misunderstanding," Quinn lied, about the misunderstanding part, not the apologizing part.

Well, she tried to apologize, and it seemed like Rachel had been listening but she only walked out of the bathroom at the end of Quinn's long speech. She didn't even care that she was being brutally honest with her intentions about why she told Karofsky to do it. Even Karofsky didn't feel right about it.

"Yeah, sure. Maybe she's just over school, I know I am." Mercedes offered.

Everyone straightened up in their seats when Rachel entered the choir room, and everyone stared at each other when she made no move to say hello to any of them. The other members were offering up various excuses and maybe if Quinn could just believe them she would stop thinking about it.

Quinn didn't even know why she was getting her hopes up in believing Rachel would respond to the letter she'd left in her locker earlier that day. Who even knows if Rachel read it or not, it was just another apology. She'd been up later than usual as she tried to write it without sounding like too much of a loser.

There was not a doubt in her mind that the reason behind her cold shoulder was because of Quinn.

"_Does this story even have a happy ending?" Julianna whines._

"_You wanted a bedtime story, and I'm telling you a bedtime story. You're going to have to wait and see…"_

On the last glee practice of the school year, Quinn had nervously sat on the top riser.

"Anyone have anything they want to sing before I let everyone go?"

It was kind of bittersweet with a side of sad. Everyone couldn't wait until summer vacation started for all the obvious reasons but everyone knew that summer lost its steam at the end of July and that within a week they'd all miss each other.

Quinn was willing her arm to raise but she felt paralyzed.

"Anyone?" Mr. Schue asked again.

Everyone looked around and shrugged. Quinn had prepared a song to sing, she wasn't sure why. Maybe it was to thank the glee club for all their support with Beth over the year, or maybe it was one last attempt at getting Rachel's attention. But she was afraid and she shouldn't have been.

"Alright well," Mr. Schuester clapped and let out a half wave, "Have a great summer."

Quinn stayed seated long after the rest of the club had left and zoned out for a while. Her phone rang and broke her out of her trance, her mother was calling to let her know that she was running late so Quinn needed to pick up Beth from daycare. She smiled to herself as she realized that this was the last day that she'd need to pick her daughter up for a long time and couldn't get out of that school fast enough.

Summer was spent exactly the way she daydreamed it would be. Her house was always the summer hangout spot and she was never so grateful. She could see her friends and she wouldn't have to lug her daughter's things with her. The entire glee club hung out a total of 12 times over the summer, she knew because Rachel wasn't present at any of them. She found out at their 2nd get-together which had been Tina's birthday at _Breadstix_ that Rachel was spending the first half of her summer at various singing and acting camps and the second half she'd be spending with her cousins at her Grandmother's house. Just as well, Quinn thought, she wasn't really expecting Rachel to speak to her if she were to show up. She was actually kind of glad that Rachel had her summer occupied so that it wouldn't hurt as much should the brunette decline the invitations. Quinn knew for a fact that Rachel was still home the first time they hung out at the bowling alley, and that was enough for her to maybe be grateful that Rachel was off somewhere overachieving with her family.

Just like every other summer, it ended sooner than she could have hoped and before she knew it, she was sitting in front of the mirror putting on some light makeup for her first day back at McKinley. She was a senior, and nothing was going to stand in her way of the things she wanted. She was a Fabray, and Fabrays got what they wanted.

Except, maybe Rachel speaking to her.

She found herself going through the same list of excuses on the first day of school that she did the Monday after Beth's birthday party. Maybe Rachel didn't see her in the senior hallway before homeroom, and maybe she was still in summer mode like many of the other students who were zombie-ing through the hallways with nice tans and smelling like chlorine. And just like the year before, every single one of her honors or AP classes were shared with Rachel. Except this year, Quinn sat either behind her or next to her in all of them. She waited for Rachel to politely turn to her and ask how her summer was, just like she did the year prior. But it never came.

Quinn still fed herself lame excuses as to why she was still getting the silent treatment, and thanked the heavens that glee practice wasn't started until the following day.

"Hey Berry," Quinn offered easily as she slid into her seat behind Rachel in AP Statistics.

She chuckled to herself when Rachel made no effort to turn around.

"How was your summer?"

Silence.

Naturally.

She heaved a loud sigh and instead opened her notebook and doodled in the margins of it until the teacher came in to start the class.

Quinn rolled her eyes at a joke that Santana made about one of the new freshman in their lunch and forced herself to laugh. But how could she laugh when in her peripheral vision she had the glee table which was missing the brunette that day. She refused to let the fact that Rachel was nowhere in sight get to her, it's not like the brunette ate lunch there yesterday, saw Quinn and then decided not to eat lunch there that day. That was ridiculous.

And Quinn absolutely wouldn't allow herself to cry as she sat and listened to the brunette gush about the amazing summer she had to Finn after he'd asked. She couldn't cry in the middle of the choir room full of people, how embarrassing? She was already the head cheerio, and now that she was the senior captain, she was expected to be unbreakable. Sue could practically smell tears. No, she couldn't do it in the choir room, but they almost came out effortlessly the second she stepped into her bedroom. She willed herself not to cry in front of Beth either but she simply broke down. At least her daughter was too young to really judge her.

She wanted to give up on trying to get Rachel to talk altogether but each time she saw her she couldn't help herself. Maybe that time would be the time, maybe today was the day she'd speak to her. Quinn wasn't even concerned with feeling foolish anymore when Rachel would walk away from her in the hallway, and she really only started to say hi to her at the beginning of their first class because it was starting to feel familiar. She was kind of desperate. Actually, she was _really_ desperate. She wanted to let it go but she just couldn't. She needed to know why.

She glanced over at the glee table like she did everyday and didn't see Rachel. She'd already finished her food and Santana was boring her that particular day. She decided to take a walk. And it wasn't so that she could find out where Rachel ate lunch every day. Okay, so it was. But whatever, she was just curious.

The choir room had a music class going on, the library was virtually empty, there was only one couple making out on the bleachers, and she was in the middle of walking to Mr. Schuester's office when she facepalmed and turned around to walk the opposite way.

The auditorium should have been the first place she checked.

She slipped inside and quietly made her way down the side steps until she saw the back of Rachel's head as she sat in the center of the third row. She actually let out a small sigh of relief. She knew that Rachel would probably bolt as soon as she realized that Quinn was in the large room with her but she also didn't want to sit creepily in the dark, either. She closed her eyes and made her way closer until she was in the same aisle.

"Hi." Quinn's voice broke through the silence softly.

She almost took it as a good sign that Rachel didn't close her books and leave so she proceeded with caution. She walked into the center and took the seat one away from the brunette. She sat in silence for a few seconds as she raked her brain for a plan of action. Her impulse control needed work, it was slacking.

"How's your day?"

That was pointless.

Quinn cleared her throat, "I liked the song you sang yesterday in glee."

"Finn seemed to really like it too, I bet he was thinking of the mailman or Beiste again." Quinn laughed and turned her head to face the brunette hoping that maybe she'd be laughing too. Her chuckle died though and she brought her eyes back to her lap.

"How'd you do on your Stats test?"

Hopefully there wasn't anyone actually sitting creepily in the dark because they'd probably be cracking up at how stupid Quinn looked while Rachel Berry continued to work on her homework. Quinn knew she should have gotten up and left to save some face but her feet were glued.

The bell rang loudly throughout the room and echoed a bit. Quinn watched helplessly as Rachel packed her bag and stood from her seat before walking out of the aisle the opposite way. Quinn wasn't sure if she could consider it a breakthrough or not.

"See you—" The door shut behind Rachel, "in English," She finished lamely before she also stood from her seat and made her way back into the hallway.

She really wasn't expecting to find Rachel in the auditorium again the next day during lunch, she figured that the brunette would wise up and go to a different location. She proceeded with the same caution that she exhibited the day prior and took the same seat.

"I can't believe Mr. Hammer kicked that kid out of class yesterday," She mused. "I guess he deserved it." she shrugged, "He did call the teacher a pompous asshole," Quinn laughed lightly, "he totally is though, isn't he?" she turned to meet the side of Rachel's face again and let her laughter turn into an easy sigh.

She kind of felt crazy for talking to herself, but it's basically what she'd been doing the entire period. What she started to do _every_ day during lunch. The routine kind of just, _happened. _

"Beth is so close to saying her first word." Quinn took a bite of her salad, "I can't believe I'm seventeen and I already feel like my daughter is growing up way too fast. Out of everyone at this school, I never imagined _I'd_ be the one to be a teen mom." Quinn pressed a button on her cell phone so she could see the picture of Beth on the background, "Thanks a lot Celibacy Club."

Quinn would get to the auditorium five minutes into lunch and walk to the 3rd aisle and sit one seat away from Rachel as she worked on her homework or sifted through sheet music.

"Is it hard not having a mom? Sometimes I want to ring my mom's neck but then I see Beth and it kind of calms me down, you know? Like, one day Beth is going to be 17 and she's going to spite me for no reason. We'll probably get into stupid fights over boys. God, I love my mother but I hope I don't turn out like her. I don't want to give my daughter a reason to ring my neck." She glanced at Rachel out of the corner of her eye, "Sorry, I'm being insensitive today."

And as the days went on, the deeper their one sided conversations would get. It still bothered Quinn that Rachel blatantly ignored her and it still hurt like hell but she found that she'd rather do this than not at all.

"Have you sent out your college applications yet? I'm sure you'll get in to wherever you apply." It became futile for Quinn to even turn to look at Rachel when she talked but she still did it anyway, "My mom wants me to go to college, and I kind of want to, too. It's what I've been working towards all my life, you know? My mom said that we could move to wherever I get in, and I've been doing research about the difference between part time and full time students. I almost think I could do it, I'm just scared." Quinn played with the skirt of her uniform, "I don't know what I'm scared of though."

Quinn tended to talk about everything from what happened in their classes to what songs she was thinking about singing for glee. Sometimes she told Rachel about Beth's progress in the talking department and other times she told her about what she did over the summer. Occasionally she'd spend the entire period in silence and one time she even used it to take a nap. She doubted Rachel even cared, she was probably happy that Quinn was quiet for once.

Quinn had been straightening up the nursery one night while Beth was playing and she found the video that the glee club made them for her 1st birthday. She still hadn't watched it and she couldn't get to the DVD player fast enough. She needed to see what Rachel said on it.

Beth finally figured out that it was the TV that kept saying her name and her attention had turned to it. Quinn pulled her into her lap as she sat Indian style on the floor and the two watched it together. The songs they sang were amazing and beautiful and Quinn couldn't help but cry a little at how thoughtful all their messages were. Each time a new face would come on the TV screen, Quinn would make sure to ask Beth who it was. Beth reacted to everyone but Rachel, who was the last person on the tape.

"Greetings baby Beth! Happy first birthday, you don't know me but I hope someday you will. I don't know when your mommy is going to give this to you but you were a beautiful little girl and I'm sure you'll grow into a strong, independent, and beautiful woman. There needs to be more of us in this world!" Rachel winked at the camera, "And now I will give you the Rachel Berry list of things you need to know for the world. Number 1, if you're ever sad about something…sing about it. Number 2, if you don't know how to sing, call me immediately so I can yell at your mother. Number 3, the only man with a Mohawk that should be trusted is your father. Number 4, don't ever let somebody tell you that you're not good enough, because you are. And Number 5, if someone is mean to you, tell them you know Rachel Berry. And don't worry, that will mean something by the time you're old enough. And now, I've prepared a special song for you that I believe will sum up this entire video. It's entitled _Baby Girl_ and it's originally sung by Will Hoge. Okay, here goes."

With rapt attention, Quinn watched the brunette on the screen singing a song she'd never heard before but by god it was beautiful. Raw, full of emotion, and soothing, it was better than a lullaby. Even Beth stopped everything to pay attention to the brunette on the screen. The lyrics were meaningful and resembled just about everything that Quinn wanted for her daughter in the world. How did Rachel find a song so perfect and so amazing? She was singing with such conviction that Quinn felt as if Rachel was singing to her own daughter. But she wasn't, she was singing to Quinn's daughter, the daughter of someone who never really gave her the time of day. The blonde felt guilty, and it was for so many reasons. Why hadn't she given Rachel the time of day before? Now that Rachel wasn't even speaking to her, it was all the blonde craved. And how could Quinn accept this song that Rachel so thoughtfully put together? What would the brunette sing to her own children? Why hadn't she saved this song special for her own daughter one day? Why was Quinn crying so hard, and why wouldn't the pain in her heart go away?

She promised herself she would at least wait until lunch to confront Rachel the next day, and she barely made it. She didn't even bother waiting the five minute cushion time that Quinn normally allowed Rachel to have in order to get settled. No, she waltzed into the auditorium unannounced and Rachel hadn't even gotten to her seat yet.

"I don't understand," Quinn stated as she approached the somewhat startled brunette, and she really didn't bother to let Rachel respond because she knew she wasn't going to, "You put together this amazing video for Beth, and you sing this beautiful song for her, and then you don't show up to her birthday. And then, you ignore me for two weeks, you leave for the summer, and when you come back you _still_ won't talk to me," Quinn was breathing heavy but didn't really have time to register Rachel biting her lip and looking torn, it was the most response she'd ever gotten from the girl.

"I just don't understand. Rachel, you need to make me understand. I know I'm a horrible person but do I really deserve almost five months of the silent treatment? I'm going crazy! You talk to everyone _except_ me and I want to know why. How many times have I sat in that damn seat and apologized to you for everything I've ever done, how many times have I rambled about the stupidest shit just so you'd maybe respond?"

The blonde started pacing as her emotions began to spin out of control, she'd given herself multiple pep talks about what she'd say to the brunette and how she'd present her case but all that flew out of the window when she saw Rachel that day. She couldn't continue to put herself out there only to be ignored, this would be the last attempt she made at getting Rachel to speak to her. It hurt her too much to hear her words echo in the space between them, unanswered. She actually felt at times that she was dreaming or going crazy, the psychological toll it was taking on her was unwelcomed and starting to worry her. She couldn't keep on like this.

She knew that she'd be pushed to this desperate brink and she was hoping it would be later rather than sooner. This was her last stand, her Pickett's Charge, her Alamo, her now or never; if Rachel didn't tell her why then she'd just have to accept it and move on. She didn't want to move on. She'd invested so much time into Rachel that she kind of was hoping to get a friend out of the deal. She surely lost connection with her other Cheerios, ditching them if she saw Rachel down the hallway and not even bothering to show up at lunch anymore. She was probably in hotter water with Santana than she was with Rachel. In the beginning, she told herself it was about winning, it was about getting Rachel to talk so she could restore some of her dignity. But the winning aspect was entirely lost, she just wanted a friend. She'd been emotionally detached for so long that she was craving attention from someone that pretended they weren't alive. There was something seriously wrong with her.

"You make me feel like I'm worthless, and I _still_ keep coming back because I can't not try. I've been trying so hard. What do you need me to do? I'll do anything. It's like I don't even exist to you anymore!"

Quinn was gearing up what else she could throw at the brunette. Not like she hasn't been brutally honest with her in the past but this was raw emotion that was coming out, it was like her heart had taken over her mind and started doing the talking.

She stared at Rachel, refused to break eye contact with the brown eyes that _rarely_ looked at her, she stared until her eyes began to burn. Rachel, for the first time in almost five months, was actually looking at her. Quinn hated the feeling she got as the brunette continued to look at her as if she'd never been so divided. The blonde began to silently pray that Rachel would say something to her, as she often did when she'd try to engage the girl, but nothing ever came. Rachel opened her mouth and a millisecond later it closed.

"Please," Quinn's voice broke with her resolve as she felt more tears slide down her cheeks.

Rachel shook her head to break her eye contact and with the motion, Quinn realized that the brunette had started to cry.

"Rachel, _please_."

Quinn watched helplessly as the brown eyes disappeared behind concentrated eyelids and Rachel began to slowly shake her head as she backed away from the blonde. Her bottom lip turning white from the pressure of Rachel's teeth biting into it to keep from breaking down. Quinn no longer cared how vulnerable she looked to the brunette. She'd never put herself out there before, she saw people do it in movies all the time, but she never imagined it would feel so horrible. Her heart felt heavier and heavier with each tear that escaped from Rachel's normally soft eyes, each silent second that passed between them brought her closer and closer to shattering into a thousand little pieces. They weren't even friends, why did Quinn care so much? She couldn't stand the sight of the brunette so broken and it was all Quinn's fault. That much she was sure of.

She'd only witnessed the girl cry a few times but never at the hands of Quinn. She figured that Rachel didn't want to give the blonde the satisfaction of seeing her affected by Quinn's pointless and cruel nicknames from years past. But there she was standing in front of Quinn with tears in her eyes. She broke Rachel and she had no idea how to fix her.

"Please, Rach."

Quinn was struck motionless as those brown eyes continued to penetrate her as if Rachel was telepathically telling her what she did wrong. Quinn tried to understand, tried to meet her halfway, tried to pretend she knew what she had done to the girl.

5 months. She was met with Rachel's silence for 5 months.

The blonde hesitantly stepped forward, hoping to reach out to Rachel but the movement broke the spell they were both under and the brunette turned away from Quinn and was out of the auditorium a moment later.

Quinn couldn't believe it. She absolutely refused to believe that Rachel was continuing to ignore her. What did she have to do? What needed to be done? They'd known each other since pre-school, and at one point in middle school they were even close enough to have a few sleepovers. High school they went their separate ways but nothing Quinn did to Rachel would warrant the silent treatment for so long. Especially because whatever issues they had with each other were long gone since the birth of her daughter. Quinn invited Rachel to the baby's first birthday for goodness sake.

No. Quinn refused to let this go on any further.

She ran out of the auditorium hoping to find Rachel somewhere in the hallway still but there were only a few stragglers that were taking their sweet time in getting to the cafeteria for lunch. Rachel spent her lunch period in the auditorium every day so Quinn had no idea where the girl would go if that option extinguished itself. She walked into the cafeteria to find most of the students staring at her with confused expressions. People still considered her the center of attention even if she no longer cared about any of that. Maybe they were confused as to why the blonde was making an appearance in the cafeteria, or maybe they were concerned with the blonde's bloodshot eyes and wet cheeks. Quinn ignored every single pair of eyes on her and made her way to the table that housed most of the glee club.

"Have any of you seen Rachel?"

"What did you do to her?" Mercedes asked quizzically.

The defensive and accusatory tone that Mercedes was using let Quinn know that Rachel most definitely had been through the cafeteria.

"Where is she?"

Mercedes answered by crossing her arms over her chest and raising an eyebrow, there was no way she was breaking. Quinn decided to go after the weakest link.

She didn't even have to settle her gaze on Artie before he cracked, "Bathroom."

Quinn turned and went back the way she came, not even bothering to send a sneer in Mercedes' direction.

She started with the bathroom on the first floor, it made the most sense. She pushed the wooden door open and called out the brunette's name simultaneously.

She was met with the sight of Rachel at the opposite end of the bathroom with Kurt in front of her while he dabbed a paper towel on her face.

"Go away, Quinn," Kurt spoke calmly.

"Not until she tells me what I did."

"I know what you did, and I think you need to back off."

Never in her life had she heard Kurt speak with such malice toward someone.

"Kurt, listen—"

He turned around to face the blonde, still obscuring most of Rachel's body.

"No you listen, Fabray. Rachel's one of us and we protect our own."

Quinn found herself scoffing before she could realize it was happening, "Since when?"

"Since—"

"Kurt."

Quinn felt her spine stiffen as she heard Rachel's soft voice come from behind Kurt. The boy turned to look at her and nodded before turning back to glance at Quinn.

"I think you should just leave her alone, she's giving you what you wanted."

"Kurt!" Rachel cried.

Quinn didn't know whether to push passed the boy or beg him to explain, "What does that mean?" she felt panicked.

Kurt had obviously said too much and Rachel was not pleased with him.

"I'm not leaving this bathroom until Rachel talks to me or someone tells me what I did, I don't deserve this."

"Trust me sweetheart, you deserve worse."

"Enough," Rachel spoke up again.

"I'm serious, I'm not leaving this bathroom until I know."

"Suit yourself," Kurt replied before putting his arm around Rachel's back.

Quinn tried to use her eyes to plead to the brunette but it was no use, she broke eye contact the second she felt Kurt tug her towards the door. The blonde could do nothing but let the two of them pass by her and leave the bathroom.

She stared at her reflection in the mirror for a few long seconds and she felt like punching the mirror. She'd keep to her threat of staying in the bathroom until someone told her what was going on. It was her own weird version of a stand-off or a sit in, maybe a protest. She shared two classes with Rachel after lunch, surely the brunette would take her seriously once she realized that Quinn really was staying in the bathroom. She'd stay in there all night if she had to.

Well, not all night. Beth had to be picked up from daycare at 4:30 that day, but she'd gladly continue her protest the following day if she made no progress by the end of the day.

All she had was her cell phone to keep her company. She barked at anyone that tried to use the bathroom.

"Get out," she spoke as she heard the door creak open, she stopped bothering to look up when an intruder would come in.

"Wow, you're seriously still in here?"

Quinn's eyes snapped up at the sound of Mercedes' chuckles, she wasn't expecting anyone to actually come for her. It was the last period of the day and she had a lot to think about in that time.

"What do you want?"

"I just wanted to see for myself," she shrugged before walking across the bathroom and taking a seat next to the blonde that was leaning up against the far wall.

"See what?"

"You know that people are calling you the _Bathroom Troll_, right?"

"Clever."

"You really don't know?"

Quinn's neck snapped towards her friend, "You do?"

"I'm not supposed to know, but Kurt tells me everything," she shrugged, "So, yeah. I do."

"Will you tell me?"

"I don't think that's such a good idea, Quinn."

"You have no idea what I feel like."

Mercedes still didn't seem comfortable with telling Quinn what she wanted but probably didn't want to hear, "You really hurt her bad."

"Nothing worse than what I used to do to her, she's never reacted this way before. I mean, just last week Santana told her that she looked like a gnome and I saw them talking in glee the next day."

"Santana's not you, she can get away with stuff like that because Rachel and her have a common understanding now."

It was a bullshit excuse and Quinn was furious that Rachel could forgive Santana so easily but didn't extend the same courtesy to the blonde.

She needed a way to make Mercedes understand what she was going through with not being able to talk to Rachel.

"How did you feel when Coach Sylvester took away tater tots last year?"

"What does that have to do with Rachel?"

"Just answer."

Mercedes thought about it, "Helpless, I guess."

"That's how I feel all the time. It's exhausting, between this whole thing and Beth waking up in the middle of the night, I feel helpless. Sometimes I just cry with my daughter because I don't know what else to do."

Mercedes frowned with sympathy but Quinn didn't want it, "You need to see someone, a therapist, maybe?"

"What I _need_ is for Rachel to talk to me."

"Why do you care so much?"

She had no idea.

"Because for the first time in my life someone managed to break down my walls and she didn't even have to try. I sat next to her every day for a month in that damn auditorium and told her everything about my life. Good, bad, regrets, wishes, dreams…literally _everything_, Mercedes. She didn't even bat an eyelash!"

"She overheard you telling Santana that you wished she didn't exist," Mercedes blurted out before she convinced herself not to.

"What? I never said…" Quinn could literally feel the color drain from her face as her heart sank into her stomach.

She did say that.

She said that and a lot more. Rachel probably heard everything.

It was the week before her daughter's first birthday and her mother was stressing her out with preparations for the party. She was having a terrible day and Rachel happened to be where she deflected her anger to.

Quinn felt nauseous but there was nothing in her stomach. She skipped lunch to follow after Rachel. Mercedes' sympathy only made her feel worse now.

"That's w-what she's b-been doing? Not existing?"

"I guess. Look, all I know is that she was coming to find you to see if you needed help with the party and that's when she overheard you talking to Santana," Mercedes told her, "Why would you even say that? I mean, Rachel gets on my nerves sometimes but wishing she didn't exist? That's harsh, Quinn, even for you."

"I didn't mean it, I was just so stressed and she was annoying me all day."

"Well, I guess you know why now."

The fact that Rachel had been so persistent all day was to offer her help made Quinn feel even worse. She wasn't sure that it was possible to feel any worse than she already did. Rachel was just trying to be a friend.

Quinn swallowed back the lump in her throat, "Did she hear everything?"

"Like that you wanted to un-invite her to the party? Or that you wanted her to lose her voice so she'd stop talking so much?"

This time Quinn did crawl over to the toilet to up heave whatever her stomach would offer her. She hated herself. The last time she felt the weird guilty pit in her stomach was on Christmas when her aunt overheard Quinn calling her an alcoholic. This didn't even compare to that. She couldn't believe that she'd allowed herself to say those things about Rachel to begin with behind her back, let alone being careless enough for Rachel to overhear. It was a moment of frustration and displaced anger that broke her down enough to take it out on someone else.

She heard the water running behind her before she felt a cold paper towel pressed to the back of her neck, it felt like two years ago. Quinn would get nauseous in biology and find the closest bathroom, Mercedes normally helped her through the sickness. Quinn dabbed at the corners of her mouth before leaning against the stall wall.

"Kurt was worried when she didn't show up to Beth's party so he went to check on her afterwards and she broke down," Mercedes continued.

Quinn really didn't want to hear anymore but she was a bit of a masochist.

"She begged him not to say anything to you, I guess she was embarrassed."

Quinn shook her head and looked down to her lap as Mercedes continued to tell her what she found out through Kurt.

"So now that you know, maybe it would be best if you two just didn't talk anymore."

Quinn snapped her attention to her friend, "No way."

"Quinn—"

"Save it," the blonde replied, "I'm going to apologize to her and I'm not going to leave her alone until she accepts my apology."

"Why?"

"Because she's my friend!"

"No offense, but I don't think that she considers you a friend."

"Well she's _mine_, and I hurt her. I need to make it right."

"She's spent the last five months ignoring you, what makes you think that she'll start talking now?"

"Then what's the difference?" Quinn replied. She really had nothing left to lose.

"The difference is now you know why she's ignoring you, she's going to think you're talking to her out of guilt."

"I'll make sure she knows that's not the only reason."

"Why is this so important to you? I've never seen you so upset over something."

"She's the closest thing to a friend that I've ever had," she paused to read Mercedes' sad expression before laughing humorlessly and dropping her head back against the wall, "Pathetic, huh?"

"Pathetic because it's Rachel?"

Quinn's eyes went hard and threatening, "Pathetic because the person I consider my best friend hasn't said one word to me in 5 months."

"I'm sure you'll figure something out," Mercedes patted her shoulder softly, "Look, I've really gotta get back to class. Are you going to be okay?"

Quinn nodded distractedly, "Yeah."

Mercedes debated briefly whether or not she should leave her friend alone in her state but ultimately the prospect of a detention slip had her walking back to her Math class.

Quinn sat for a few minutes longer until she realized that she'd just thrown up in one of the school bathrooms for the first time since being pregnant and had no dental hygiene accessories in her locker since the birth. She heaved a sigh and stood to her feet before leaving the bathroom and gathering her schoolbooks. She wasn't going to glee that day. She was going to stop home to brush her teeth and pick her daughter up an hour early from daycare so that she could think about everything she just learned.

"_Tell us another story, something with an actual happy ending!"Julianna cries as her fist makes contact with the comforter in frustration._

_Beth laughs, "Who said that this one doesn't?"_

"_The Royal Jester doesn't want to be friends with the Queen Princess!" the girl whines. _

_Beth smirks before raising an eyebrow, "Well maybe the Queen Princess has a few tricks up her sleeve…"_

Quinn managed to fool Judy Fabray for a grand total of two days until she realized that her daughter had been skipping school on purpose. And even when her mother confronted her on the third morning, Quinn kept up the charade and Judy ultimately allowed her to stay home but only because she could tell that her daughter was hurting for some unknown reason. But it had to be pretty big, Quinn never missed school.

Her long weekend was rather relaxing, but she couldn't go more than ten minutes without imagining the humiliation that Rachel must have felt as she overheard Quinn's horrible words. She wanted to try to apologize in school but what if Rachel walked away from her again? What if Rachel involved everyone else this time? It was hard enough to know that both Kurt and Mercedes probably thought less of her after learning what she'd inadvertently done to their friend. She couldn't face Rachel after knowing that the brunette thought she was a monster.

But she wasn't made to give up.


	2. A Deal is Struck

Beth smiles a wide and teasing smile as the child protests about the story she was telling her.

"The Royal Jester hates the Queen Princess _and_ so do the townspeople! I hate this story and the only thing that will cheer me up is ice cream!"

Beth nearly snorts as she tries to hold in her need to laugh out loud. She doesn't want to wake up the sleeping boy next to his sister.

"Absolutely not! It's already way past your bedtime," Beth whispers quickly.

"Ice cream or I wake up Emerson," the little girl challenges.

Beth's eyes narrow, "You wouldn't dare."

She hates being blackmailed but it often works when Julianna does it. Julianna is an adorable child and she knows how to emphasize her cuteness when she needs to but Beth knows she's pure evil. She connives in the most innocent way possible.

Beth watches in horror as Julianna brings her hand down to Emerson's shoulder to prove her point.

"Fine. Go downstairs while I put Emerson into his bed."

She has no choice but to give in to the six year old's demands and she isn't happy about it. She carefully lifts the sleeping toddler into her arms and practically tiptoes into his bedroom so she won't wake him in the process. Once he's settled and his night light is on, she closes his door softly and heads down the staircase in order to face the demon waiting for her with an ice cream scoop.

Julianna is sitting on one of the barstools at the island with a spoon in her hand, eagerly awaiting Beth to come down so she can get her beloved ice cream. The six year old is humming to herself as she swings her tiny legs under her.

"Alright, what will it be?" Beth asks as she grabs two bowls from the cabinet and opens the freezer door, "Cookies and Cream or Cookie Dough?"

Julianna taps her finger to her chin, "Hmmm, both!"

Beth laughs to herself already predicting that answer in her head. She places both cartons on the counter and begins serving the both of them before sliding the bowl across the marble and to the little girl. Beth leans against the opposite side of the island and begins eating her ice cream.

"Beth?"

"Hmm?"

"Did you make this story up?"

Beth shakes her head, "Nope, it's real."

"Oh." Julianna continues to scoop her ice cream before thoughtfully asking with furrowed brows, "How do you know it?"

Beth begins to churn the rest of her ice cream until it has the smoothness of a milkshake, "Because this was the bedtime story that I was told when I was your age."

Beth smiles as she reaches across the counter to help Julianna in mixing her ice cream the same way she just did seconds ago. Kids are the most impressionable. Beth remembers how Rachel used to stand across from her on those late weekend nights and help her mix her ice cream the same way she was helping Julianna. It made her smile.

"So are you going to tell me the rest of the story already?"

Beth smirks around her spoon, "I thought you _hated_ the story?"

"Well I _have_ to know what happens!"

"Of course you do," Beth sets her bowl down again before leaning closer, "So the Queen Princess needs to find a way to talk to the Royal Jester, right?"

Julianna nods eagerly.

"Well she's going to use her secret weapon."

"What's her secret weapon?" Julianna asks with wide eyes.

Beth chuckles before picking up her bowl again.

* * *

><p>After Quinn's nice weekend, she decided that nothing would get accomplished if she was sitting around feeling sorry for herself all the time. Rachel wouldn't talk to her if she didn't make the effort. After brunch on Sunday, she bundled up her daughter in the pink jacket that Puck bought her and strapped her into the stroller once they got outside. It had been a while since she took her daughter for a walk and the winter months were fast approaching, she needed to take advantage of the halfway decent Ohio weather while it still lasted. Luckily, Rachel only lived 4 blocks away from her. Perfect walking distance.<p>

She pep talked Beth on their walk. Beth mumbled under her breath and retained none of it, naturally, but it helped Quinn to believe she had a shot. The Berrys' house was in the middle of the street on the left hand side and Quinn felt like she was walking towards her doom. She didn't know Rachel's weekend schedule even if the brunette knew Quinn's. She hoped that she was home.

She rang the doorbell and took a deep breath as she heard Rachel's voice filtering through the small cracks of the door. It was the closest thing she'd gotten to Rachel speaking to her in months. She relished it. It was about to be gone once the brunette opened the door to find Quinn on the other side of it.

Just as she predicted, she could barely get a word in.

"Hi Rachel, I was—"

The door slammed hard enough to shake the knocker engraved with _The Berrys_ and Quinn decided to use that the second time around, in case the doorbell attracted the unwanted attention of her fathers.

"Rachel, please," Quinn called through the door, "Please hear me out."

She wondered if Mercedes told Kurt that Quinn knew the reasoning behind the silent treatment, but she had to give it a shot anyway.

"I'm sorry for what you heard," it wasn't exactly how she wanted to apologize but she panicked. "I know I'm a bad person but you didn't deserve any of that. I didn't mean any of it and it was stupid of me to even say it, and I just wanted to let you know that if I had the chance to take it back then I would give up just about anything to do that," Quinn rested her forehead on the door, "Except my daughter," she added softly under her breath.

She wasn't even sure if Rachel was on the other side of the door or if she was talking to the air but she had to get it off her chest. She knew she was nowhere near done making up for her mistakes.

"Speaking of my daughter, she's here and she wants to personally thank you for the thoughtful video you made for her. She loved the song you sang to her, it was—well, it was the most beautiful song that she's ever heard."

Quinn drew both her lips into her mouth as she lightly pounded her fist on the wooden door, her eyes shut as she prayed for a response from Rachel.

"She's watched it every night before bed," Quinn spoke a little softer and she could have sworn she heard the smallest of sobs from the other side of the door, "It's cold out here, Rachel, and I forgot her blanket at home," Quinn lied. "Please don't let Beth pay for her mother's stupid mistakes."

The door swung open and it almost caused the blonde to fall forward into the Berrys' house but she managed to catch her balance at the last second. Rachel looked down to the toddler in her carriage and clearly noticed that the child had her pink blanket wrapped snuggly around her.

"Your mother is a liar, Beth," Rachel replied as her hand gripped the door in preparation to close it again.

The blonde reached out and halted the door before Rachel could close it any further, "The mistakes I was referring to are the ones I made with you, Rachel, please don't let Beth pay for them. I want her to grow up with you in her life, I want her to know the kind of person you are, she needs to meet the person that sang that song to her."

Rachel's features softened slightly before she looked down at the child that was kicking her feet against the bottom of the carriage and swallowed noticeably. She stepped back and opened the door wider for Quinn and the blonde fumbled over her feet as she tried to get Beth inside before Rachel changed her mind. She bent down and unstrapped her daughter from the stroller as Rachel closed the door and walked into the living room. Quinn really hoped that Rachel's dads weren't home.

Quinn sat down on the small couch and set her daughter down on her lap. She squirmed a little before the blonde unzipped her jacket.

"Can you say hi, Beth?"

Beth looked up at her mother before staring back at the brunette who was sitting on the opposite couch. Rachel looked uncomfortable as she fidgeted on the cushion, and Beth looked back to her mother and threw her arms around her neck.

"She's a little shy when she meets new people," Quinn replied as she struggled with her daughter until she was sitting properly again. "Be polite, sweetheart, this is Rachel."

Quinn smiled softly as she felt Beth shift so she could get a better look at the girl, the blonde knew that her daughter recognized Rachel from the video they watched together every night before bed. Beth could be the most animated child in the world on most days but when she met new people she was shy and bashful.

"Hi," Beth blurted quickly before hiding her face in Quinn's shoulder again.

Quinn watched as Rachel's cheek twitched and a lopsided close lipped smile came over her face, "Hi Beth, it's nice to see you," She spoke softly.

Beth ducked closer into Quinn and her small fingers gripped the cross hanging around her mom's neck. It was like her safety blanket.

"Thanks for letting us in," Quinn said once Rachel's eyes found hers again. "It was kind of cold out there."

Rachel only nodded and continued to rub her palms with her thumbs in some kind of nervous habit.

Quinn felt uncomfortable but her shame was entirely out the window at that point. She should have felt way more mortified than she actually was, but she'd been dealing with Rachel's silence for so long that it felt normal.

"So I meant what I said, you know, about being in Beth's life."

Rachel ignored Quinn's words and instead focused on the toddler in her arms.

"Will you at least say something?"

Quinn gulped nervously as she watched something close to rage flash across Rachel's soft eyes, her mouth opened and the blonde was wincing in preparation for the hate the brunette was surely about to throw at her.

"Who was at the door, Sweet pea?"

Both girls looked to the stairwell to find one of Rachel's fathers walking down to join them, Rachel jumped up and it startled both Quinn and her baby.

"No one, Daddy," She called desperately.

Judging by the brunette's facial expressions, she could tell that Rachel didn't want her father to know that it was Quinn sitting in their living room. She grabbed the pink jacket and started to prepare her daughter to leave on a moment's notice. She felt a little better that in a way Rachel was protecting Quinn from the wrath of one of her fathers. She couldn't imagine them being too thrilled with how she treated their daughter in the past.

"Oh my goodness, Quinn Fabray? How are you!"

Quinn looked up to find the tall man beaming down at her and she hesitantly smiled up at him.

"And you brought baby Beth? Oh, how wonderful!"

Quinn smiled and hoped that the confusion wasn't written all over her face, she chanced a look to Rachel to find her looking anywhere but at her.

"I hope that's okay?" Quinn spoke up, unsure of how to proceed since she was getting _no_ help from Rachel.

Mr. Berry waved his hand, "Are you kidding? You know you're always welcomed here! I'm sorry that my husband and I haven't been here all the other times you stopped by, you probably think Rachel's raising herself, huh?" His smile was wide and playful, "We both work late so it's hard to make it home some nights. Are you planning on staying for lunch?"

The hope in his voice almost had Quinn agreeing right away, at the very least so that she could get to the bottom of the _Twilight Zon_e episode she'd just stepped into. One look at Rachel and she knew that it wasn't the best idea.

At her hesitation, he elaborated, "Oh I'm sure we have some chicken tenders and French fries for the little one downstairs in the freezer, it would be so nice to meet someone so important to our daughter."

For the first time in her life, Quinn was entirely speechless.

"Daddy, leave Quinn alone. I'm sure her mother is already preparing lunch for her and Beth, she was just leaving anyway."

The smile slid from Mr. Berry's face and he frowned momentarily, "Of course. We'll have to plan better next time!" His eyes were sparkling in a way that Rachel's used to and Quinn found it too hard to swallow the guilt.

Quinn nodded and met Rachel's pleading eyes. The entire situation broke her heart. Rachel had been lying to her fathers about her relationship with Quinn.

"Yeah, I should get going, Beth needs a nap, anyway," Quinn stood with her daughter and walked her over to the door, "Thank you for everything, Rachel. It was nice meeting you, Mr. Berry."

"Please, call me Leroy," he held his hand out for the blonde to shake before reaching in to tickle Beth, "She's even cuter than you described, Rach."

Quinn wanted to throw up.

"I'll um, I'll see you tomorrow, Rachel," Quinn forced out before she draped the pink blanket over Beth and tucked her in snugly.

Quinn could feel both of their eyes on her as she pushed the stroller down the walkway and refused to turn around until she was at least a block away. She passed a few people walking but was too distracted to return their greetings.

How long had Rachel been lying to her fathers about their friendship? How many times did Rachel sit at their kitchen table and tell them fake and exaggerated stories? How often did Rachel tell her parents that they just missed Quinn after they came home from work? Quinn barely got her daughter out of the stroller and onto the play room floor before she broke down and sobbed into her hands.

Beth looked at her curiously for a few seconds, her tiny eyebrows scrunching together in concern and confusion before she reached down and grabbed her teddy bear from the pile of stuffed animals. She handed Quinn the bear and went back to watching _Dora_ while the blonde held the bear to her chest.

Quinn knew without needing to look in the mirror that the dark circles under her eyes were the worst that they'd ever been, that her eyes were still puffy from crying for the majority of the night. She could tell that she looked as worn down as she felt by the facial expressions of the kids she passed in the hallway. Even Santana winced when she saw her.

She saw Rachel standing at her locker and decided to give it hell. It's not like she expected to get any kind of reaction out of her.

"Your dad seems really nice," She said softly as she leaned against the locker next to the brunette's.

She could tell that Rachel heard her because she saw her tense.

She sighed, clearly she wasn't going to get anything out of Rachel, "I'll just see you later."

Quinn was too distracted with her own thoughts to notice Rachel turning to watch her leave.

The closest Rachel had gotten to talking to her was when she surprised her for a house visit on Sunday, and Quinn knew that it was her best shot to get the brunette to speak to her. Her phone buzzed at the end of the day and she opened the message to find it was from her mother. Judy had dinner with a client and Quinn was on her own that night.

The blonde paced back and forth in the living room as her daughter stood in front of the TV. _Dora _could keep her occupied for hours and it didn't even matter if it was the same episode on loop, Beth adored everything about the show. Quinn glanced at the clock and made up her mind, she just needed to freshen up and put together a bag for her daughter before she could leave. She decided to drive to Rachel's instead of walk, it was already dark out and too chilly for her daughter. She was relieved when she noticed three cars in the driveway, at least Rachel's parents were home.

She unbuckled Beth's car seat and shouldered her diaper bag before taking a deep breath and crossing the street to the Berrys' house for the second time in two days. She hoped that it wasn't rude of her to impose but Mr. Berry seemed genuinely serious about having Quinn for dinner one night, she just hoped the offer still stood.

She rang the door bell and held her breath when she felt the door open.

"Quinn! What a lovely surprise! Rachel didn't mention you were going to stop by," he frowned, suddenly realizing, "Is everything okay?"

Quinn smiled at his concern and nodded, "Everything is fine. My mother had to go out to dinner with a client so I was hoping your offer still stood? I'm not very good in the kitchen unless it's microwaveable, and I thought Beth would like to be around new people, and—"

She knew that she was rambling but she couldn't stop herself.

Mr. Berry chuckled loudly and waved his hand, "Come in, come in! This is wonderful, Rachel will be so happy."

Quinn bit her tongue and stepped inside, "I hope I'm not imposing."

"Of course not! There's plenty for everyone, and I'm sure we have something that Beth will like."

"Oh, she eats just about everything, so…" Quinn's laughter trailed off as she set the diaper bag down, "I really appreciate it."

"Don't mention it. Why don't you go into the family room down the hall and I'll send Rachel in, we just started dinner so it should be about a half hour or so, is that okay?"

"Sounds great."

Leroy smiled warmly and pointed Quinn in the right direction before walking up the steps to where Rachel's room presumably was.

Quinn glanced around the large room and smiled. It reminded her of the billiards room at her Uncle's house. The beige walls were covered with framed movie posters and collectable movie memorabilia. The dark maroon wrap around couch faced a wide screen TV on the far wall, and the entertainment stand held hundreds of movies. Quinn set Beth down on the floor and handed her a few small toys to keep her occupied with for the time being. She stood in front of the ottoman and used it as a table for her toys. She was hoping that Rachel would let Beth watch television, she was also hoping that Rachel would be willing to talk to her, but she wasn't banking on anything.

It was a few minutes before she heard someone clear their throat and she turned around to find Rachel leaning against the door frame with her arms crossed.

"What do you want from me?" Quinn's eyes closed on their own accord, it was the first time Rachel spoke directly to her in over five months. "What are you doing here?"

She chanted internally to remind herself to not break down and cry in front of the brunette.

"Your Dad, h-he invited—"

"He wasn't serious."

Quinn's brows furrowed as she replayed the conversation, "He seemed pretty serious."

Rachel stomped her foot, "This isn't a game, Quinn."

"I'm not treating it as one."

"I think you should leave," Rachel's voice cut through the air stubbornly.

The saddest smile graced Quinn's features and she shrugged helplessly, "But you're talking to me."

Rachel's mouth snapped shut as if she hadn't realized she was speaking to Quinn, "That was a mistake. This," she gestured between them, "is a mistake. You shouldn't be here."

"Can't I just stay?"

"Why?"

Quinn shrugged again, she felt so lifeless but she knew that she didn't want to give this up, no matter how awkward it got, "I like being around you. So does Beth."

"Don't use her against me."

"Don't make me."

Rachel took a few strong steps into the family room until she was standing right in front of Quinn, "You don't get to do this, you don't get to come into my house and do this. You don't belong here—"

"Hi girls, so dinner is Penne Pasta with Mr. Berry's famous sauce, is that okay?" he directed at Quinn.

"Sounds great, thank you."

"What about Beth?" he asked.

"She loves pasta and sauce," Quinn smiled sweetly, "Don't you, sweetheart?"

"Ya," Beth blurted as she played with her stuffed animal, not understanding what exactly she was agreeing to.

Mr. Berry smiled at everyone and left a moment later. Rachel huffed and continued to stare at Quinn.

"Beth, can you say hi to Rachel for me?"

Beth circled her arms around Quinn's leg and glanced up shyly at Rachel, "Hi."

"Hi Beth," Rachel smiled before bending down to be eye level with the girl, "What do you have there?" Rachel asked softly.

Beth continued to suck on her two fingers before handing her toy to Rachel.

"I have coloring books, would you like to color with me?"

She chuckled to herself as she watched the toddler's eyes widen with excitement. Beth had no idea what Rachel was saying but the tone she was using probably let the child know that she definitely wanted to color with her. Rachel stood back up and stared at Quinn but said nothing before she disappeared out of the room.

Quinn sighed loudly and bent down to pick up her daughter, she wasn't sure if she was supposed to follow Rachel out of the room but a few minutes later the brunette walked back in with a stack of coloring books and three shoeboxes. She set everything down on the floor and moved to sit Indian style.

Rachel noticed Quinn's raised eyebrow, "I babysit my little cousins sometimes on the weekends."

Quinn nodded her response and sat on the carpet with her daughter, "Look, B, look what Rachel brought for you to play with. Can you say thank you to her?"

The toddler was too distracted to reply and Quinn sent her an apologetic look.

"Thanks for being cool about this," Quinn offered after a few minutes of silent coloring.

"I'm not," Rachel replied without looking up from her picture of a princess.

Quinn went back to handing Beth different colored crayons but only after trying to get her daughter to say the color she wanted. She hoped that by repeating things, Beth would catch on soon and start learning colors. It didn't work but she continued to try.

Rachel looked up when she felt a shadow casting over her, Beth was leaning over and watching the brunette color.

Quinn called for her daughter to come closer to her and she leaned down to whisper in her ear. Beth picked up the piece of paper full of her colorful scribbles and held it up for Rachel to take.

"Yachel," Quinn smiled at her daughter proudly.

"Is this for me?"

Beth continued to stare at Rachel.

"Give her a hug, Beth," Quinn urged gently.

She was amazed that Beth was so comfortable with Rachel and she'd only been around her twice.

Rachel gasped as she felt the tiny arms around her neck and gently rubbed the girl's back, "Thank you."

Mr. Berry called for the girls a few minutes later and Quinn pretended to be upset when Beth reached for Rachel's hand instead of her own.

"Oh Hiram, would you look at these two?"

Hiram Berry turned with a smile as he saw Quinn's child holding his daughter's hand.

"Oh that is just too cute," he beamed at the girls before turning to Quinn, "It's a pleasure to finally meet you, Quinn, we've heard so much about you and your beautiful little girl."

"All good things, I hope?" Quinn smiled but secretly prayed that they _were_ all good things.

The blonde helped her daughter up into what she presumed was Rachel's old high chair next to her and ran to grab the bib and juice sippy cup out of the diaper bag. Rachel sat at the head of the table while her fathers sat across from Quinn and Beth.

"Isn't she just the little eater?" Leroy asked, amazed at how good Beth was at the table.

"She's like her father," Quinn commented adoringly as she watched Beth scoop up some noodles with her hands, "Ya know, the messy part," she laughed, and was proud to see that even Rachel cracked a smile.

Rachel told her fathers about her day and Quinn hoped that they couldn't tell anything was wrong with her as she listened to the conversation she didn't feel she should be a part of. Quinn's turn was next, and she could see the warning in Rachel's eyes as she went through her day.

"Oh, Rach, I talked to Mr. Hummel earlier," Leroy started after a few minutes of silence, "We can drop your car off tomorrow for him to look at, but he wasn't sure how long it would take."

"In his defense, your reenactment of the noise it's making _was_ a little hard to define," Hiram joked with his husband.

Quinn took a sip of her water and wiped her mouth with a napkin, "What happened to your car?"

"It's just making a funny noise, and the _check engine_ light came on today. Better to be safe than sorry," Hiram answered.

Leroy immediately agreed, "So we'll just have to work out a schedule so you can get to and from school for the next few days."

Quinn dropped her fork and it rattled on the ceramic plate, "I'll drive her."

Rachel's eyes widened and she went to protest before her father cut her off, "That's an excellent idea. You don't mind?"

"Of course not," Quinn rushed out before Rachel could come up with an excuse as to why it wouldn't work, "It's on the way."

Quinn knew that she was safe. There was no arguing that logic. They lived about a half mile from the school and even Quinn knew that Rachel wouldn't be stubborn enough to walk to _and_ from school.

"That's very generous of you, Quinn."

Quinn nodded before glancing at Rachel. She seemed unaffected but she knew she was going to get an earful about the bombardment at a later time. Quinn smiled to herself, at least she'd be getting Rachel to speak to her. Even if it was just to yell at her.

After dinner, Quinn cleaned the sauce off of Beth's hands and face while the Berry men collected the dishes. Rachel sat back in her chair with a distant look in her eye.

"Why are you doing this to me?"

"Doing what?"

"This," she looked up, her gaze hot in Quinn's direction, "All of this. I know you don't care about me so please just stop pretending."

Quinn felt her mouth go dry at the sadness behind Rachel's voice, "I do care about you."

Rachel laughed humorlessly and shook her head slightly, "You don't care, you're just trying to clear your conscience."

"That's not true," Quinn was getting worked up but she knew she had to keep her voice down so Rachel's fathers didn't hear.

"Who's ready for dessert?"

Rachel pushed her chair back from the table, "Daddy, would you mind watching Beth for a few minutes. Quinn and I have to talk about something."

"Of course, Sweet pea. Is she allowed to have ice cream, Quinn?"

Quinn nodded, "A scoop is fine or else she'll never fall asleep." She ran her fingers through her daughter's hair, "Mommy will be right back, okay? You be good for Mr. Berry." She leaned forward and placed a kiss on her temple but she knew Beth's attention was long gone once she saw the carton of ice cream on the table.

Quinn followed Rachel through the front room and out the main door to the porch. Rachel was gripping the fence around the porch and staring out into the darkness. The street lights were on and Quinn could just make out her car as it sat across the road.

"You need to stop," Rachel spoke slowly, not taking her eyes off the front yard.

"I can't."

"You can and you need to."

"Fine, I can but I don't want to, so I'm not going to."

"What will it take? Do you want money? What will it take for you to just leave me alone?"

"No, I don't want your money, Rachel," Quinn whispered harshly. "Don't be ridiculous."

"I want nothing to do with you, Quinn."

The words felt like a brutal attack against Quinn's chest.

"I didn't mean anything I said," the blonde tried.

"You still said it."

"I was stupid and annoyed and I was having a bad day. You didn't deserve any of that."

She shook her head sadly, "I wanted nothing to do with you after I overheard you with Santana. I thought we were okay, and for once in my life I considered us friends, but I couldn't be friends with someone that would say something like that. So I gave you what you wanted," she shrugged, "Simple as that. How was I supposed to know you'd stalk me?"

"I wasn't stalking you," Quinn argued.

"Really?"

"Fine, I was."

"You heard it from Mercedes and you heard it from me. Everything is out there now, I'll go back to not existing and you can go back to your old life. You won, Quinn, you got what you wanted… once again."

Rachel released her grip from the fence around the porch and took a step towards the door.

Quinn panicked, "I don't want that, Rachel."

"Is it tiring living so many lies?"

"What are you talking about?"

Rachel let out a breath of hot air, "Have you already forgotten that you've been telling me all of your secrets every day? Did you really think I wasn't listening?"

"I hoped you were. Look, I just, I feel like I don't have to hide who I am around you."

Quinn wasn't sure of what she was saying, words were stringing themselves together and coming out of her mouth before she had a chance to reevaluate the honesty behind them.

"And who are you?"

"I don't know, but I've never felt pressured to have all the answers when I'm with you. I could just _be_."

Rachel rolled her eyes, "That's because I wasn't talking to you."

"I'm sorry for ever saying that, you have to understand that I never meant it."

Rachel scoffed, "You say that now because you know what it's like to lose me."

"I never lost you because you were never mine to begin with."

The brunette stared hard at Quinn for a few long seconds before shifting her feet to stare out into the yard and dropping her arms from across her chest.

"Can I ask you a question?"

"Of course."

"What kind of person wishes someone would just stop existing, Quinn?"

"Rachel, I—"

"I could handle all the names and insults, I could even throw them back at you every once in a while when I was feeling particularly brave, ya know for the banter effect, but that comment hurt worse than everything combined. I tried to wish for you to stop existing, I thought that maybe I'd feel better if you went away," Rachel turned to look at Quinn again, "It made me feel worse."

"Is that why you lied to your dads about our friendship?"

Rachel's laugh was hollowed, "Pathetic, huh? Making the one person that hurt you the most into the greatest friend you've ever had? What they don't know, can't crush them, right?"

Quinn knows all about being pathetic. Her best friend is someone that didn't speak to her for five months.

"Rachel, I don't want this."

"What do you want?"

She wanted a lot of things. She wanted Beth to speak in full sentences before she fell behind the other children, she wanted Puck to not stare at her with sad eyes every time Quinn picked up their daughter from his house, she wanted her History teacher to stop giving pop-quizzes, she wanted her father to want to meet his granddaughter, and she wanted her mother to not work so hard all the time. She wanted everything to be okay between her and Rachel, and ironically, the one thing that was standing in her way was the one thing she actually wanted the most.

Quinn took a deep breath, "I want us to be friends. I want to make up for how I've treated you, I want to be the person you tell your dads about, can you give me that? Please? Just a chance."

Rachel's expression resembled pain and a little bit of sympathy, possibly traces of guilt, "I'm sorry, but you're not going to get what you want for once."

Quinn panicked as she saw Rachel moving to go back inside again, "Please, Rachel. I'm not a monster, you know that I'm not."

"I hope you had a nice time at dinner, Quinn," the brunette replied instead, "Thank you for understanding."

"I'm not going to give up."

"I hope that you'll reconsider."

Quinn was determined, "I'm driving you to and from school for the next few days."

"I'll make other arrangements, you don't need to worry."

"Please don't do this."

"You'll understand that I don't want to listen to you."

"I'll be here at 6:45, Berry."

Quinn pushed the door open since she was no longer getting through to the brunette. It was obvious that she was putting on a fake smile and was done being open with the blonde. She rounded the corner into the kitchen to find the Berry men sitting across from Beth as they ate their ice cream.

"All done?"

The blonde had the strangest feeling that the men gave her daughter an extra scoop because there was no way she was still working on the same original scoop. Her daughter was a vacuum when it came to sweets.

"Do you have to get home?"

"I have a big test to study for and I need to give this one a bath and put her to bed," Quinn began wiping off the excess vanilla ice cream from her cheeks, "Thank you for having us."

"Anytime Quinn, and if you ever need sitters, we'd be more than happy to watch her for you when we're off from work."

Quinn could feel Rachel's presence from behind her, "That'd be great, thank you."

She lifted Beth onto her hip and went through the motions of having her daughter say goodbye to everyone before she strapped her in the car seat and walked with her out to the car.

She had a few phone calls to make.

"_What's she going to do?" Julianna asks as she chews on the metal spoon in her mouth. "How is the Queen Princess going to get the Royal Jester to ride in the horse and carriage with her?"_

"_She's going to get the townspeople to help her."_

Quinn was smiling to herself as she pulled up to the Berry residence at 6:44am. She packed Beth her snack and lunch for her day at daycare and strapped her in the backseat of her car. Beth got dropped off on the way to the high school. She beeped the horn twice and a few seconds later, Rachel Berry came storming down the walkway.

The door slammed closed behind the brunette and she immediately turned to glare at the blonde in the driver's seat.

"I know you're behind this," She accused.

Quinn put the car in drive, "Good morning, Rachel."

"Don't think that I'm not onto you, I know that you threatened everyone into not giving me a ride."

Quinn looked in the rearview mirror and smiled brightly at her daughter, "Beth, did you say hi to Rachel?"

The brunette turned around in the passenger seat and noticed that they had company, "Hi Beth."

"Yachel!" she replied before looking back out the window and mumbling under her breath.

Rachel lowered her voice, "I know what you're doing."

"And what's that?"

Rachel didn't have a response, "You're…You're—just be quiet."

She really didn't know what Quinn was doing.

They dropped Beth off and were on their way to the high school a few moments later. Before Quinn could even put the car in _park_, the brunette was up and out of the car.

"You're welcome," Quinn muttered under her breath before shouldering her bag.

She knew that it was going to be a long road but she was determined to make the trip. She was going to show Rachel that she wasn't the person she thought.

Quinn watched with hidden amusement from her locker as Rachel stalked up to Finn and hit him on the shoulder, "Why couldn't you drive me this morning?"

Finn looked panicked and his eyes darted around the small hallway until he spotted the blonde's narrowed eyes, "I um, my passenger seatbelt broke, so I couldn't drive you. Safety first, or something."

Quinn nodded her approval in the distance as Rachel began yelling at him that it was a poor excuse.

"Will your _seatbelt_ magically be fixed by the end of the day?"

Finn's eyes went wide and he glanced over the short brunette's head to find Quinn shaking her head _no_.

"Sorry, Rach," he shrugged helplessly before she stormed off.

It hadn't really been a problem to find something on each of the members of glee, whether it was something to bribe them with or something to blackmail them with. Quinn and Rachel were the only ones that knew about his little _problem_ when it came to intimate relationships. It hadn't been hard to persuade him to say no to Rachel when she called and asked for a ride. Puckerman was bribed with taking on a few more days with his daughter that he didn't originally have, that wasn't a problem for Quinn, she could run errands with her free time without Beth. Tina lived next to the High school, so she wasn't even an option for Rachel, and Mike Chang didn't have a car. She ended up just paying Kurt in gift cards to the mall, and she promised Mercedes her next three solos.

She didn't even bother talking to Santana, like she would _ever_ allow Rachel to get into her car.

She had all of her bases covered.

Quinn still attempted to talk to Rachel during the school day but with little luck. A few times, the brunette acknowledged her but seconds later she was huffing and throwing hissy fits as she stormed away.

Quinn had to bite her lip to hide her smirk as the brunette pleaded with everyone as glee let out to drive her home.

"I'll be outside," Quinn called softly before leaving the choir room.

It was five minutes before she felt the car shake with the small force of Rachel getting into it.

"You're blackmailing my friends!"

"I wouldn't have to if you'd just accept my rides without fuss," Quinn replied before turning the radio on.

"I told you not to worry about it," Rachel crossed her arms and glared at the trees as they passed by her.

"And I told your dads that I'd drive you," Quinn replied, "So stop attempting to find a way out of it."

"I'm taking the bus tomorrow," Rachel sneered, "Even you can't bribe the bus driver to not pick me up."

She probably could but she wouldn't stoop that low.

"It's supposed to rain tomorrow, you're going to stand outside until the bus comes?"

"Ever hear of an umbrella?"

Quinn played dumb, "What's that?"

Rachel let out a scream and stomped her foot on the floor mat, "You're insufferable!"

"I'm being a friend."

"This isn't what friends do!"

"Of course it is."

"Would you go through all this trouble for Santana or Brittany?"

Quinn didn't respond because if she was being honest, she really wouldn't go through all the trouble for anyone.

"Why am I so special? Why when I don't want you to be my friend, you're trying to be one?"

The blonde continued to keep her eyes on the road, "I don't know."

They spent the rest of the car ride back to Rachel's in silence. Quinn honestly had no idea why she was going through so much trouble so that the brunette would maybe be her friend. If she looked at it rationally, there probably wasn't a very good chance that Rachel would forgive her. Even though Rachel was the most forgiving girl in the world. Quinn made a mistake and she could admit it. She wouldn't have been as sorry as she was if she was never caught, she probably wouldn't even think twice about saying it again if she was mad enough, but Rachel did overhear and it opened Quinn's eyes. She didn't want her daughter growing up with a mother that couldn't take responsibility for her actions. She'd always had a strange obsession with Rachel, it was just extreme opposites. She went from hating her, to tolerating her, to stalking her, to craving her acceptance. She felt like the biggest fool in the world but she couldn't not try.

She pulled up to the curb and Rachel's seatbelt had already been off.

"I'll see you tomorrow," Quinn called out just as the door slammed shut.

Just as Quinn had warned, the dark cloud sat above Lima and it looked like the heavens were opening up as the rain drenched everything below. Quinn left earlier than usual, not only to ensure that her daughter would get to daycare on time but to make sure that Rachel wasn't going to somehow evade the blonde.

She turned around to find her daughter happily swinging her tiny legs against the seat with her pink rain boots.

"Mommy will be right back," she told her before throwing up her hood and grabbing the umbrella out of the front seat.

She ran up the walkway and squealed a bit as she tried not to get as wet as physically possible and only when she was under the safety of the porch did she take away her umbrella. She rang the door bell twice and waited until Rachel swung the door open.

"I'm taking the bus," the brunette stated.

"The bus leaves fifteen minutes earlier on rainy days," she lied, "Looks like you missed it."

Rachel seemed to believe her though. Her eyes closed briefly, whether she was scolding herself for not remembering that faked fact, or she was berating herself because she allowed Quinn to one-up her again, the blonde wasn't sure. She smiled sweetly and held up her umbrella.

The house shook as she slammed the wooden door closed behind her and refused Quinn's umbrella offer.

During lunch, she overheard Rachel on the phone with Mr. Hummel, offering to pay him double if he could get the car back to her by the end of school.

Luckily, whatever was wrong with the black sedan required Mr. Hummel to order a part and it would take at least two more days.

Rachel continued to try to counter whatever Quinn bribed her glee friends with but they wouldn't budge. It didn't help her cause that the blonde was always somewhere around, silently threatening them.

By the end of the third day, Rachel stopped putting up a fight altogether and silently sat in the blonde's car as she drove her home from school.

Friday morning, Rachel wanted answers.

Quinn rolled down the passenger side window when she noticed the brunette waiting outside expectantly.

"What are you doing?"

"What will it take?"

"What do you mean?" the blonde asked.

"What will it take for you to stop annoying me?"

Quinn humored her for a few seconds while she tapped a finger to her chin, "Nothing, get in the car."

"The only way I'm getting in this car is if we make a deal."

"Beth is going to be late for daycare."

Rachel sneered, "You can't be late for daycare, it exists solely for parents that work and I'm sure they're not going to punish Beth if her teenage mother is five minutes late."

"Get in the car!"

Rachel shook her head stubbornly, "Not until you tell me what it will take for you to leave me alone."

"You seriously are doing this right now?"

Rachel quirked an eyebrow and pointed towards Quinn, "Is that frustration I see? Good, because that's how I feel."

"I'm not trying to do that...I'm trying to be your friend."

"You're trying to force me into being your friend, you haven't once considered my feelings on this."

"That's all I'm considering…do you think I like feeling like an idiot every time you ignore me? You think I _love_ hearing you tell me to leave you alone? I just want the chance to prove that I'm not a bad person."

"You're not a bad person."

Quinn rolled her eyes, "Fine. I'll make a stupid deal with you, give me 24 hours and if you don't want to be my friend after that then I'll leave you alone."

"For good?"

Quinn nodded, "24 hours."

"That's it?"

"You're not allowed to complain, you're not allowed to ignore me, storm off, or throw a hissy fit. You have to actually make an effort with me. Twenty four whole hours together or else the deal is off and I'll never leave you alone, so I would think carefully about this."

"And if I don't accept the deal?"

"I'll still never leave you alone."

The brunette sighed, "You want me to pretend to like you for one day?"

Quinn nodded, "I just want one chance to convince you that I'm for real about this."

"It's pretty clear that you are," Rachel replied sarcastically, "But fine, I'll go through with it, 24 hours and I'm done."

"If you want to try to start a friendship after that, it's up to you."

Rachel bit her lip and stepped forward to pull the door open, "Okay."

"Really?"

The brunette nodded, "But you have to be real. You can't be fake and overly nice to me. I want to get to know this _real_ Quinn Fabray, deal?"

"Of course."

The blonde's smile refused to leave her face, she didn't even flinch as she heard Rachel slam the passenger side door.

She spent the majority of the school day planning out her 24 hours with Rachel. She decided to show the brunette what her weekends were like. She was excited.

The brunette was waiting by the blonde's car after their glee practice.

"Tomorrow's Halloween," Quinn said as she pulled up to Rachel's house, "I'll pick you up at ten a.m., bring your overnight bag, and a smile. Maybe a costume if you're up to it."

The brunette grumbled something under her breath as she closed the door but nothing could wipe the smile off of Quinn's face.

"_What does the Queen Princess have planned for her day with the Royal Jester?"_

_Beth thinks about it for a few seconds, "Well the Queen Princess is going to show the Royal Jester what types of duties she has to tend to on a daily basis."_

The sun was shining brightly and it was a nice change from the dreary weather they'd been having the past couple of days. It was late October and the leaves were just beginning that magical phase of brilliant oranges and reds. The football team had the weekend off and the air smelled exactly like Halloween. It was an indescribable scent, but when you took a deep breath, you immediately thought of Halloween.

Quinn ran up the walkway and rang the doorbell. Leroy Berry greeted her with a wide smile and a Witch's hat on.

"It's a little early for costumes, isn't it, Mr. B?"

"This isn't a costume, I moonlight as a witch on the weekends," he stage whispered before chuckling, "What do you girls have planned for today?"

"Teenage mom things, you know, the usual."

Mr. Berry played dumb with an innocent smile, "You're a mom?"

Quinn couldn't contain her laughter for some reason, she was just in a great mood. She loved Halloween and she was excited to spend the holiday with Rachel.

"Is Rach ready?"

"Daddy, stop harassing Quinn," Rachel said lightly as she came into view, "He's been waving a wand around all morning and casting fake spells on my father and I."

Quinn laughed harder and her smile reached her eyes, she noticed that Rachel was showing hints of a smile as well.

"Yes well, when you turn into a toad later, you'll know where to come for the reverse spell."

Quinn continued to laugh and nodded before making eye contact with Rachel, "Ready?"

She nodded and stepped outside, "Guess so."

"Bye Mr.—" the blonde stopped when she looked to the doorway to find it empty, "Um, where'd he go?"

Rachel rolled her eyes and shook her head as she continued walking down the path, "He's been doing that all morning, too."

"Have fun ghouls!" came somewhere from inside the house in a creepy voice.

They pulled away slowly and Quinn hit replay on the cd player to hear _The Monster Mash _again. Beth nodded her head back and forth and continued to kick the back of Rachel's seat lightly as she tried to mimic the words.

"So, where are we off to?"

Quinn turned down a random street, "Beth has a birthday party at the gymnastics place."

"Aren't they a little young for gymnastics?"

Quinn laughed, "Says the girl that won her first dancing competition when she was three months old."

"Well, with talent like mine…"

"One girl has it there and then everyone wants it there. They normally end up just jumping around on the trampoline."

Quinn was right. The party chaperone had control of the group of girls for about 10 minutes before one wandered off to play with the yoga ball, and pretty soon all eight girls were splayed across the colorful mats.

"Is it weird?" Rachel suddenly asked as she watched some of the other moms converse at a plastic picnic table a few away from where her and Quinn were sitting.

"What?"

"Being such a young mom, I mean, they all look young but I'm sure they're thirty."

Quinn wiped her hands of the napkin before taking a sip of soda, "It's weird."

"Are they nice to you? They don't look very nice," Rachel frowned.

"They try," Quinn shrugged, "But how much in common can you have with a 17 year old kid? It's not like I can ask them for the math notes. And I doubt they'd invite me to one of their dinner parties, I can't even drink."

"So what do you do at these things? Does Puck ever come with you?"

Quinn continued to eat her chicken tenders as she tried to recall, "He's been to a few daycare events and birthday parties with me, but the moms _love_ him. He cleans like all of their pools."

Rachel rolled her eyes playfully, "And your mom?"

"My mom tries to make it to almost everything, she's the one in the aisle with the outdated camcorder. Be thankful that she's not here right now," Quinn smiled as Rachel began laughing, "Normally I'll do homework or read at things like this."

Rachel had a small pout on her lips and the blonde realized that she was feeling bad for her, and that definitely wasn't her intention. She nodded towards Rachel's basket of fries, "Aren't you hungry?"

The brunette nodded and reached for her fries.

"Does Beth get along with the other children?"

Almost as if she was programmed to know exactly where her daughter was at all times, she found Beth in the crowd of girls, "She's good at sharing, and she's a good teacher's helper, but she's having trouble with one of the other girls in her class. They fight constantly. The girl likes to take Beth's toys, I've heard she's the class bully though."

Rachel laughed to herself, "Sounds familiar."

Quinn met Rachel's eyes suddenly and an awkward silence fell over them.

"Look Rachel—"

"No, I'm sorry. That wasn't fair. We made a deal."

Quinn wanted to press the matter, maybe apologize again for the thousandth time but she didn't want to ruin the mood they created so far. They'd been idly chatting all morning and it was nice. They could get into serious talks later.

She nodded before picking up one of Rachel's fries and flinging it at her, "Eat," she demanded, "We have a busy day."

Busy was an understatement. Normal Saturdays were busy enough but it was also a holiday so they had double the activities to complete. Quinn needed the weekends to run the errands that she couldn't run during the week.

Occasionally she'd force Puck to go with her but it was nice having Rachel with her. She liked having a girl to talk to, and it was wonderful not having to scold Puck every few minutes for checking out every girl that walked by him. Santana and Brittany tagged along sometimes but Santana normally ended up lounging in the furniture section of whatever store they were in and Brittany tended to be more of a hassle than Beth. When they got together it was like they spoke the same language and that frightened Quinn. Rachel was actually the perfect person for the job.

Beth happily kicked the red carriage beneath her as the three girls walked down the aisles of _Target_.

"I swear someone is coming into my house at night and stealing this child's socks. I have to buy her new ones _every_ week."

Rachel laughed and tickled the toddler as she continued to push the carriage while Quinn picked out a package of socks. The brunette's eyes doubled in size when she saw the list that the blonde had in her hand. Who knew a child required that much attention?

They were able to also tackle some of the grocery shopping since their _Target_ recently acquired a market section. Quinn cried when she found out, it was heaven sent. They were even able to pick out a few new outfits for the child, Rachel's picks weren't half bad.

"I don't know how you do it," the brunette spoke up as they loaded the trunk of Quinn's car together, "I mean, I've only been at this for 4 hours and I'm exhausted…_and_ I'm Rachel Berry. I never get exhausted."

Quinn shrugged, "I don't know when it happened but I'm used to it all. It's fun."

"Really?"

The blonde sighed as she shut the trunk, "Sometimes I feel like I have no idea what I'm doing, and I do have my momentary breakdowns, but I see Beth and I know I could never let her down, so I push through it with a smile. No use in complaining, right? Besides, she's the cutest thing I've ever seen in my life."

Rachel smiled, "She _is_ adorable, and I think she likes me."

"Oh, you _think_? I saw your smirk when she pushed me away so you would push her in the carriage."

"That did feel really good," Rachel admitted playfully, "So, where are we off to next?"

Quinn smiled as she reversed the car.

They set Beth down in the living room to play with her new toy from _Target_ that Rachel bought behind Quinn's back. It made sense, once the blonde saw what it was, of course Rachel would buy her daughter a sing-a-long _Disney _microphone. They unloaded everything they bought before Quinn dressed her daughter in the Halloween costume and packed her something to eat in case she was fussy with Puck's dinner choice.

"Can I ask you a question?" Rachel said after they pulled away from Puck's house.

"You don't have to ask me, I'm being _real_ with you, remember?"

"You don't pay for everything by yourself, right? I mean, Puck helps you?"

Quinn laughed, "You sound worried."

"I just want to make sure that he's taking care of you two the way he should be."

"He helps out a lot. His dad sends his mom monthly checks that he gets a portion of, so that along with some of his own money," Quinn glanced to find Rachel frowning, "I could have done a lot worse, trust me. He's good and my mom pays for everything else. I feel bad, I wish I could contribute more monetarily but I really don't have time for a job right now with school and stuff. I don't think my mom would let me, anyway."

"Why not?"

"Still making up for kicking me out, I guess."

Rachel bit her lip in hesitation, "You'd let me know if you ever needed help, right? With Beth or with anything else," she trailed off, "My fathers, too. They'd love to help."

"You make it sound like I'm still homeless and raising a child."

"You're eighteen and you have a kid," Rachel reminded her as if she forgot, "If you or Puck, or your mom ever need a break, that's all."

Quinn wanted to make a comment on the fact that Rachel was basically admitting that she cared about the blonde but she didn't want to ruin the day. "I appreciate it."

They finished the rest of the grocery shopping, ran to the pharmacy, stopped at the dry cleaners, and picked up a few movies at the video store before they made their way back to Puck's.

Rachel and Beth colored at the kitchen table while Quinn put away the groceries. Both girls with a juice box in front of them as they concentrated on their drawings, Quinn with a warm smile on her face as she watched the two together.

"I have _never_ heard her talk so much," Quinn remarked wide-eyed as she pushed the stroller down the street, "Granted, you can't understand half of it, but whatever she's trying to say sounds pretty exciting."

Rachel laughed as she played with the neon glow stick around her neck.

Occasionally, they could make out _Yachel_ which was her way of pronouncing the brunette's name and each time Rachel beamed at Quinn.

"Um, is there a line of kids at your house?"

"My dads give out king sized candy bars."

"I wish I knew that when I was a kid, I'd be the one coming back with a different costume every ten minutes."

"That was Puckerman."

"Sounds about right," Quinn lifted the stroller up on the curb and maneuvered through the little kids running back down the pathway.

"My three favorite girls!" Leroy called excitedly before pressing the button on the fog machine. It was finally dark enough for the strobe light.

Beth's eyes lit up as she saw the man kneeling before her, no doubt remembering that he was the one that gave her the ice cream the other night.

"I'm only giving you chocolate, Beth, because I know your mommy is going to end up eating it anyway."

Rachel and Quinn shared a secret smile because, yes, they were absolutely going to pig out on the candy that Beth obtained.

"Oh look how cute she is in her little princess costume," Hiram gushed as he came up behind his husband, "I wish we had another one!"

"I'm not enough!" Rachel stomped her foot.

"You're plenty enough, maybe just a rent-a-baby that we could take out to relive the good ol' days. You know, on holidays, and maybe to take them to Disney."

"Take me to Disney!" Rachel continued to throw her playful hissy fit.

"Well, you can take Beth around the block, if you want," Quinn offered and continued when she saw their faces light up, "Rach and I can hand out candy."

One man handed Rachel the bowl of candy while the other handed Quinn the fog machine remote and practically danced out of the yard with Beth. The blonde turned to see Rachel smiling with a different kind of smile than she was used to. She nudged the girl and they both walked up to the porch to wait for more kids to show up.

"That was really nice of you," Rachel commented after a few minutes, "Letting my fathers take Beth out. They'll be gushing about it for weeks."

"They really like her, and they seem to know a lot about her," Quinn replied carefully, knowing that what she was about to segue into could be tricky if she didn't handle it delicately.

"I told you that I listened when you spoke to me," Rachel joked and bumped Quinn's shoulder as they sat on the steps, "I don't know, my father's asked me how the party went and I didn't want them to know what happened so I told them what I heard at the lunch table about it. And then they asked about you at dinner one night and the lie was easy. Before I knew it, I was telling them things without them even having to ask, I guess it felt nice to pretend."

The blonde's shoulders sagged as if the words were physical weights. She felt awful that Rachel had to lie to her fathers, she felt worse than the time she lied to Finn about the paternity of the baby. She never thought she'd feel that bad again but there she was, sitting on Rachel's front porch and feeling a million times worse.

Quinn could cry if she let herself. It would be all too easy to break down and beg Rachel for even more forgiveness.

"I messed up so bad," the blonde's voice was shaky and Rachel could hear that she was close to tears.

Quinn recalled the big smile on the brunette's face when she gave her the invitation during glee, remembered how she overheard Rachel talking to Mercedes about how excited she was for the party when it was still a month away, re-lived what it felt like to watch Rachel's segment of the video that _she_ put together. Before she knew it, her cheeks were wet and her heart was aching.

"I know you hate me, and that I forced you to spend today with me, and even if you decide you want nothing to do with me after this, I had fun today so thank you."

"Well, it wasn't the hell I imagined."

Quinn felt herself laughing, "You don't have to sleep over. I'm not going to force you or anything, and I'll still hold up my end of the bargain. I'll leave you alone."

"Thank you."

Rachel was silent for a few minutes and Quinn figured that it was for the best. It killed her that the brunette wanted nothing to do with her but she was naïve to believe that a day together would somehow magically make up for their past. Of course Rachel still wanted nothing to do with her, a few semi-serious conversations didn't constitute as anything other than fake interest. The Berry men came up the pathway and Quinn wiped her cheeks to make sure there were no remnants of tears leftover.

"How was she?" she asked as she stood from the porch.

"An angel," Leroy beamed.

The blonde smiled adoringly at her child and took a deep breath, "Well, I should start making my way back, it's getting late." Both Berry men hugged her and she turned to Rachel with a small wave, "Thanks for hanging out with me today."

Rachel nodded her acceptance.

"Ready kiddo?" Quinn asked the child before she began pushing the stroller down the pathway.

She hit the white picket fence and realized that Rachel really would rather have nothing to do with her. It was worth a shot and she couldn't say she regretted how she spent her day at all. She thought about turning around and pleading with the brunette to walk back with her. She felt lonely and cold, empty inside.

"Quinn, wait."

She refused to get her hopes up at the sound of Rachel's voice. She could be calling after her for a number of reasons.

The blonde stopped and took a few deep breaths before she turned around.

"We made a deal, 24 _whole_ hours."

Quinn's eyes fluttered closed as relief flooded through her. Rachel's dramatics could have been rubbing off on her but it felt similar to a blank bullet in a game of Russian roulette.

"Are you sure? I'm not forcing you anymore."

"Exactly, you're not forcing me."

Quinn smiled and tucked her lower lip between her teeth before stepping away from the stroller and allowing Rachel to take the reins.

"We have candy to pig out on, ice cream to devour, movies to critique, and slumber party rituals to complete."

Both girls walked back to the Fabray residence with a pep to their step as they lightly conversed about a few of the costumes they saw along the street. Beth continued to mumble words to herself as she chewed on her fingers.

"So I'm going to go change Beth and get her to sleep, there's a bathroom down the hallway if you want to change into your pajamas," Quinn told her as she cradled the girl on her hip, "Can you call the pizza place and order a pie? I'm starving."

Rachel nodded, "What do you like on your pizza?"

"Honestly, at this point I'll just about eat anything so get whatever you'd like."

She could tell that Rachel wanted to pursue the issue but they'd probably end up going back and forth for hours with indecision so it was easier if the brunette just chose something and stuck with it. She escaped up the staircase before Rachel could protest. Whenever her and Santana used to order food, they'd fight and bicker until Brittany picked up the phone and ordered something that neither of them liked. Lesson learned.

Beth was fussy as Quinn attempted to change her and the blonde prayed that it wouldn't be one of those nights. They were few and far between but occasionally Beth refused to go to sleep. She set her down in the crib with the bar lowered and put on the CD of classical music that she fell asleep to. If she didn't have a guest over, she'd read or sing to her but she was hoping that once her head hit the pillow, Beth would be too tired to keep her eyes open. She crept out of the room and into hers so she could get changed for a relaxing evening.

Rachel was downstairs in her house and actually wanted to be there. Quinn could barely believe it. Months of not getting any type of response from the brunette took a toll on her but she hoped that they could start a tentative friendship at the very least. It just felt good to be acknowledged again. She really didn't know what she had until it was gone.

She plopped down on the couch with a heavy sigh and a giggle from the brunette.

"You look exhausted," Rachel commented, "We can go to bed."

The blonde shook her off, "I just love the feeling of finally sitting down after a long day."

As if on cue, Beth's cries could be heard through the video monitor in Quinn's hand.

"Why?" the blonde asked the ceiling before turning to Rachel, "She's so tired, I can see it in her eyes but she'd rather be difficult."

"What do you do when she cries?"

"I need to let her cry."

Rachel bit her lip and hesitantly grabbed the small monitor out of Quinn's hand to see the girl standing up in her crib and throwing her blankets on the floor in protest.

"How long does she go on for?"

Quinn shrugged, she really hated to leave the girl in the crib in tears but she needed to stop babying her when she cried or she'd get away with anything.

"I can't allow her to cry," Rachel decided.

The blonde sighed and began to sit up so she could make the long trek back up the stairs. Rachel's hand on her thigh stopped her, "I'll go."

"Are you sure?"

The brunette nodded, "You've been running around all day. I don't mind."

Quinn sank back into the couch as the brunette hopped up and skidded across the hardwood floor before taking the steps two at a time. The blonde decided to make her daughter a bottle of watered down apple juice in case Rachel was unsuccessful in her attempts to quiet the toddler.

She picked up the video monitor as she walked back in the living room and noticed that it was quiet and she took it as a good sign. She half expected Rachel to have the girl in her arms but she found the brunette leaning over the crib, probably running soft circles on her small back. She could tell Rachel was speaking to her daughter and decided to turn up the volume. It was pure curiosity that wouldn't go away until she found out what she was saying.

Quinn nearly dropped the monitor when she realized that Rachel wasn't speaking at all, she was singing. Softly and easily singing the song that she sang on the video she made Beth for her 1st birthday. The blonde dropped down onto the couch and watched with adoration as Rachel sang to her daughter. This girl that she'd hurt so many times in the past was nothing but amazing to Beth all day.

Maybe she didn't deserve Rachel's friendship after all.

But she craved it. Now more than ever.

She wasn't lying when she showed up at the Berry house nearly a week earlier and told Rachel she wanted her daughter to get to know the girl that sang that beautiful song for her.

The singing stopped and it was completely silent. Quinn watched intently, waiting for Beth to start crying again.

Instead, the brunette just leaned over the edge of the lowered crib bar and placed a kiss on the child's forehead. Quinn saw Rachel leave the room and she turned the monitor down and ran into the kitchen with the bottle. She didn't want the brunette to know that she saw and heard the entire moment. It felt like something private and she'd let Rachel have that.

Once she was sure that Rachel was back in the living room, Quinn waltz in with the bottle, "I'm just going to run up and give this to her."

"No need. She's sound asleep."

Quinn smirked, "What'd you do?"

"Sang to her."

"Well that's a new record, you realize that I'm going to call you every time she cries, right?"

Rachel laughed as she rubbed her eyes, "As long as I can do it on speakerphone, I won't mind."

The blonde nodded and set the bottle down before jumping on the couch again.

"Where has your mom been all day?"

"Visiting friends."

"You're home alone all night?"

"I told her it'd be fine, I knew you would be here."

"Maybe we shouldn't watch the scary movie we got, two teenagers with a small child on Halloween all alone in a huge house doesn't sound much like a cliché I want to live through."

"Well, at least you're optimistic enough to have us surviving."

"Not funny!" Rachel hurled the couch pillow at the blonde as she giggled.

The door bell rang and both girls screamed. Rachel held her hand to her chest and glared at the blonde as she began laughing.

Quinn paid the delivery boy and barely made it back to the couch before she was grabbing a slice of pizza.

"If only I had a camera right now," Rachel joked as she watched the blonde inhale her pizza.

Quinn continued to chew, "Shut up and put in a movie."

Rachel eyed the two choices before picking the scary one anyway. She turned around to meet Quinn's eyebrow and shrugged, "It's Halloween. We _have_ to watch at least something scary, aren't those the rules?"

The blonde went back to her pizza without much protest, "Don't wake me up when you can't sleep later."

"Like I'll even let you fall asleep if I'm scared."

"I swear to god, if you keep me up all night I'm going to lock you in the basement."

Rachel gasped, "You wouldn't dare!"

"This is your warning."

"You'd really lock me in your basement?"

Quinn softened, she wasn't really sure if Rachel knew she was entirely joking but maybe they weren't at that level yet. They joked around with each other for the majority of the day but maybe she shouldn't joke around about something that her former self would do for real.

Quinn backtracked and thought about how to make it playful again, "I'd lure the killer towards the basement and lock _him_ in while you took Beth and ran to your dads…does that make you feel better?"

"NO! You'll get yourself killed!"

Quinn laughed and reached for another slice of pizza, "I'm never going to win with you, am I?"

"You catch on fast."

They settled in to watch the movie and halfway through Rachel was up and pacing behind the couch.

"I'm not watching this anymore, put in something else."

Quinn thought about teasing her but she thought better of it and put in the romantic comedy they got as a backup.

"_They're becoming friends!" Julianna squeals with delight as she pulls on Beth's hand to bring her over to the couch in the living room._

"_See I told you." _

"Sorry that I can't put you up in a guest room, we turned it into a nursery and my sister's room was turned into Beth's play room." Quinn felt genuinely sorry that she couldn't better accommodate for guests, "I can sleep in my mom's room and you can take my room if you'd be more comfortable."

Rachel squealed, "Are you crazy? You really think I'm going to sleep by myself after seeing clowns chasing people with chainsaws?"

"Things like that don't happen in real life, only in bad low budget movies."

"That's exactly what they want you to think! I bet you those kids in the movie never thought they'd ever have to deal with chainsaw clowns chasing them."

Quinn rolled her eyes, "Once again…you're using characters in a _fake_ movie as your example."

"Regardless, push your dresser in front of the door in case they try to come after me."

"I'm not pushing the dresser in front of the door… you're being ridiculous."

"We'll see who's laughing when you're being chased down the street by killer clowns."

"I'm not dignifying that with a response," Quinn pointed to the bed, "Pick a side."

Rachel hopped on the side the furthest away from the door before looking towards the window skeptically, "Wait, is there any way they could get in through that window?"

"You're not sleeping in the middle of the bed."

"Fine. You just better be ready to lure some clowns to the basement."

"You're not allowed to watch anything remotely scary anymore."

Quinn grabbed a few blankets off her rocking chair before kneeling on the bed to fluff her pillows.

The brunette eyed her curiously, "What are those for? You're not going to smother me in my sleep are you?"

Quinn threw them at her, "Are you serious?" When Rachel didn't respond, the blonde continued, "No, I'm not going to smother you. They're for you. I'm kind of a blanket hog when I sleep so if you don't want to wake up in the middle of the night with no covers, I suggest you keep those handy."

Rachel giggled childishly before throwing her head back on the pillow, "That's so…cute, actually. You toss and turn a lot?"

Quinn nodded, "I kick too, so you might want to put a pillow in between us."

"Do you ever sleep walk?"

"Not that I'm aware of…why?"

"I just want to know in case you do, I don't want to mistake you for a zombie and end up accidently killing you."

Quinn turned and expected to find Rachel with a playful smile on her face but didn't see one, "You need to talk to someone about your irrational fears."

Rachel nodded, "My therapist is well aware. He says that I just have an overactive imagination."

"You're something else."

"Are you surprised?"

"Not really."

"I'm not annoying you, am I?"

"Not at all."

"Cause you can tell me if I am, sometimes I get giddy and forget that other people might not share the same excitement."

Quinn stopped moving around under the covers, "You're excited?"

"Well yeah, I don't have very many sleepovers. And we're getting along quite nicely, don't you agree?"

"Yeah."

Quinn waited until Rachel got under the covers before she turned her bedside lamp off.

"So just let me know if I'm getting annoying."

"I heard you singing to Beth before," Quinn blurted.

"Oh."

"It was really beautiful."

"It's just a song."

"Yeah but it's the song you sang for Beth on the tape. Thank you for that."

Rachel sighed, "You're welcome."

Quinn wasn't ready to say goodnight so she didn't. The two girls talked about random things until eventually they drifted off to sleep before they could realize what was happening.

Quinn rolled over on her back and something felt different. She felt rested. She rarely felt fully rested, like she got the best night's sleep she's ever gotten since giving birth to her daughter. There was always something to wake up to. Crying baby, frantic mother, cell phone alarm clock, neighbor's lawnmower, but no, there was absolute silence. She sat on her elbows and noticed that just like she warned Rachel, she had the white comforter wrapped entirely around her. Rachel's blankets were folded on top of the bed and that was when she realized that the brunette was missing.

She glanced at the clock and shot up from the bed, it was nearly 10 in the morning. She never slept that late, she never had the chance unless Beth slept at Puck's but even then, she'd be on her way to pick up her daughter by 10 a.m.

She panicked, not understanding why Rachel was missing and how she could have slept for so long. Rachel's dramatics were seriously rubbing off on her because for a quick moment, clowns and chainsaws flashed across her mind before she shook her head and walked out of her room to see where everyone was.

Beth wasn't in her crib so the next logical thought was to enter the playroom and sure enough she found Rachel lying across the pink area rug with Beth pressed up against her side as they colored. Quinn leaned against the door frame and watched with a smile as Rachel told Beth all about Regionals and even though they lost, she considered it important because Beth was born that day.

Quinn cleared her throat and smiled wide at her daughter when she jumped up and ran over to hug her leg.

"I see you and Rachel are having a nice time, are you being good?"

"Ya."

"I hope you don't mind, I heard her moving around and I thought I'd give you the morning off."

"You changed her, too?" Quinn replied as she took note of the small pair of jeans and _Diva in training_ shirt that Rachel picked out the day before from the store, "She _let_ you? She normally gives me a hard time."

"She's been quite animate all morning, I'm so close to cracking her secret language."

"Thanks Rach."

The brunette smiled before reaching her arm out for Beth, "Show Mommy what you made her!"

Quinn walked further into the room and sat Indian style next to Rachel as she waited for her daughter to hand her the piece of paper.

"This looks pretty good for a 17 month old."

"Okay so I must admit, I helped her draw the stick figures, but she colored everything else."

Quinn smiled at the colorful scribbles, "I'm assuming that's the three of us?"

"I'm apparently the short one."

"I love it! Thank you, sweetheart." Quinn kissed her daughter on the cheek before standing, "I'll get dressed and we can get breakfast?"

"I'd love to but Sunday brunch is sort of my Dad's thing."

"Of course, well, let me get dressed and I'll drive you."

"Oh that's alright, it's down the road… I can walk."

"Well then let me get dressed and we'll take a walk with you. It's nice out."

The blonde could tell that Rachel wanted to protest again but she ended up smiling and calling for Beth to re-join her so they could finish coloring.

"_Wait! Does this mean that the Queen Princess and Royal Jester are finally friends?"_

_Beth pushes herself up from the couch in order to rearrange her legs and Julianna mimics the position, "You're impatient, you know that, kiddo?"_

_Julianna scrunches her face, "When you were younger didn't you want to know what happened!"_

_Beth thinks back and a smile spreads across her face, "Yeah, I did. You'll find out soon enough, Jules."_

"_Fine."_

Quinn had been nervous all morning. She wasn't sure if their deal or arrangement was still going on but Rachel seemed to like hanging out with her. Would it be a regular thing, though? Quinn stayed true to her original intentions and that was to show Rachel who she really was. She thought she did a pretty good job, they joked around and teased each other, and that was something that they never did before. She wouldn't have to drive the brunette to school anymore because she noticed that the black car was in the driveway when they stopped by the Berry's on Halloween. She wasn't sure if she was supposed to walk up to Rachel in the hallway and strike up a conversation. She would if she wasn't so afraid of being ignored. It was fine when they were alone, she supposed, but what if Rachel was just acting to make Quinn feel better. What if they went back to how it was the previous five months?

Quinn wasn't sure she could live like that now that she saw how great Rachel was to have around.

Not once did the blonde grow irritated or impatient with Rachel. She just hoped that the brunette felt the same way.

She tried to remember what her life was like before she became obsessed with getting Rachel to talk to her. She promised herself that no matter what, she'd hold her head high and not let it show how hurt she'd be if Rachel decided to continue to ignore her. But what if Rachel was waiting for Quinn to speak to her first? She should probably approach her before homeroom started so that she could find out right away. She didn't know if she could wait that long to see if she had a new friend or not.

She thought about texting the brunette on Sunday night after dinner to see how her day had gone. She wanted to make a comment about chainsaws and clowns, maybe start an inside joke with the girl that they could laugh about for months to come. Something that they shared together, much like how they shared Halloween together. How they listened to _Monster Mash _on repeat every time they were in the car. She hoped that Halloween could be like their holiday, or something. The first time they hung out.

She never sent any of the text messages, though.

She closed her locker and decided to just give it hell and walk up to Rachel to see if she wanted to do something one night that week. Maybe hang out after the football game the following weekend, or watch a movie one night.

"Quinn?"

She whirled around and almost fell as she came face to face with the same girl she was thinking about all morning.

"Rachel, uh, hi."

"Are you okay? You seem jumpy."

"I'm fine. What's," Quinn attempted to put her elbow on one of the lockers to lean against swiftly but she ended up misjudging the distance and nearly fell again, "up. What's up?"

Rachel laughed into her books, "So… I was wondering if you could help me with something…"

"Okay…what is it?"

Rachel began walking and it took Quinn a few seconds to realize that she was supposed to follow.

She was talking to Rachel…in school…in a two sided conversation. Was she dreaming? Oh, she'd be so pissed if she was still dreaming. It wouldn't be the first time she'd wake up to be disappointed.

"As you know, I've been on the rebound for quite some time now."

"Okay?"

Rachel continued, "If I want to be famous one day then I need a boyfriend."

"Um, seriously?"

"Studies show that audiences sympathize more with young celebrities when they have an unknown man on their arms. A high school sweetheart."

Quinn was pretty sure that there wasn't an actual study out there that tested that, and if there was, then she was pretty sure that wouldn't be the result.

"Okay?"

"I need you to help me find someone to date."

It was then that she realized what Rachel was doing. She wasn't going to flat out say that she wanted to be Quinn's friend, she would be far too vulnerable to allow herself to do that so soon after everything that had happened between them. No, Rachel was good at guarding herself when she needed to, she was proposing a project that the two of them could work on. Naturally they'd get closer as they searched for a boyfriend for Rachel, they'd get the chance to bond. It was actually pretty brilliant.

"I'll help you, but in return, I need you to help me."

What's the harm in taking advantage of this plan?

"Sure, it's the least I could do."

"Senior Prom is six short months away, and we all know how last year turned out."

Rachel nodded solemnly in sympathy, "What do you have in mind?"

"I want you to be my Prom Queen campaign manager."

"It's a little early to start campaigning, isn't it?"

Quinn thought quickly, "Well, the Homecoming dance is in three weeks and studies show that if you're Homecoming queen then you have a 70% chance of also being Prom Queen."

She had no idea if that was accurate or not.

Rachel nodded eagerly, "Of course, it's a crucial stepping stone."

The blonde couldn't believe how easy it was to convince her. She was going to help Rachel get a boyfriend and the brunette was going to help her become the senior Prom Queen.

"So we have a deal, we'll help each other?"

Rachel stuck her hand out, "Deal."

Rachel wouldn't even know what hit her. They'd be best friends in no time.


	3. Finding the Perfect Suitor

**Wow, thank you all so much for taking the time to leave reviews. Overwhelmed by the response. Sorry for any mistakes and thanks for reading! Have a great weekend!**

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><p>Six year old Julianna is pacing across the living room carpet as she tosses one of her little brother's foam <em>Nerf <em>basketballs in the air. She's a determined little girl with a lot on her mind. First, what was she thinking when she requested Beth to tell her a bed time story? She should have known that it wouldn't be an easy journey, and now it's all she can think about. Is the Queen Princess someone she knows? Is she famous? Is the Royal Jester famous? Is it even a happy ending!

Beth glances over her shoulder to see the time on the clock above the stove, "You really need to go to bed, Jules. I'm never going to be allowed to babysit you again."

"How could I go to bed at a time like this?" the little brunette shrieks, "It's starting to get good!"

Beth laughs, she knew that once she got more into the fairy tale story that the little girl wouldn't be able to stop listening. She remembered feeling the exact same way when she was younger and hearing it for the first time. And every time after that.

"So you like it?"

"This is the best bed time story _ever_!"

Beth can't help but smile proudly. She pats the cushion next to her and waits until the small girl jumps up on the couch with eager eyes.

"So the land of McKinley throws a Spring Ball at the castle every year and of course the Queen Princess wants to win the coveted jeweled crown for her collection. The Royal Jester is going to help the Queen Princess secure the crown and in return, the Queen Princess will help the Royal Jester find the perfect suitor."

"How will they do that _all_ of that!"

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><p>"She knows that you're here so she's going to keep crying until you go in there…<em>Don't<em> go in there or else she'll never learn that she can't always get what she wants."

"You realize the position you're putting me in. A poor little child is crying because they want to see me and you're going to make me sit here while they cry their precious eyes out?"

Quinn huffed and pinched the bridge of her nose before throwing her notebook on her bed, "Fine. Go and say goodnight to her and you have five minutes. I'm going to get something to drink."

Rachel was up off of Quinn's bed before the blonde could change her mind and scurrying into Beth's room to say goodnight to the little girl one last time.

It'd been two weeks since they struck up their agreement and they were still working out respective plans of action. It wasn't every night that they saw each other outside of school but they spoke to each other every day during lunch in the auditorium.

Quinn still couldn't believe that she could sit in the auditorium seat and speak to Rachel so freely. She was so used to meeting silence when she spoke in that room.

Her mother smiled at her as she sifted through bills at the kitchen table.

"How's everything going up there?"

"Beth won't stop crying. She knows Rachel is here so she's being extra needy."

"Yes, I can hear her. Perhaps Rachel will sing to her and she'll fall asleep?"

"Don't encourage it, Mom. Rachel won't always be around, and I can't have her become dependent."

"I know dear, but you can't blame either of them. Beth adores her and it's good that she's starting to trust other adults."

Quinn stayed silent because she knew her mother was right. It was actually great that Beth wanted Rachel around so much. She finally had a friend that Beth approved of. Oddly enough, the little girl had a very good radar of people, she cried when Santana held her on most occasions. She could get more done with Rachel around because Beth was an angel when she was there. Whether they were coloring or she was tugging on Rachel's arm so she'd watch _Dora_ with her, Quinn was able to do laundry and clean without having to tend to Beth's every cry. She even liked the Berrys, which was _huge_. She could finally get out of the house and not have to worry about dropping her off at Puck's. She almost had a social life again. It even gave Mrs. Fabray a break.

Quinn held up the water bottles, "We're gonna get back to work."

By the time she got back up the stairs, she found Rachel sitting on her bed with a sly smile on her face. Quinn threw the water bottle at her and picked up the notebook again.

"Don't give me that look."

"If you would've just let me sing to her when I first got here, she would have been sleeping an hour ago."

Quinn ignored her, "Anyway, we need to start working on finding you a boyfriend. The Homecoming campaign is going great so far. There is one poster every 50 feet, and on every stairwell door, in all the restrooms, and all over the gym. Jacob's latest poll results has us 30% above the closest candidate."

"I'm going to start handing out buttons and this weekend we'll make the chocolate lollipops. Daddy bought the molds yesterday," Rachel added, "Little Princess crowns."

Quinn smiled, "So we can take a night off and work on the boyfriend credentials. Shall we take this into the playroom?"

Rachel hopped off the bed, "We shall."

The brunette pulled the white rocking chair out of the corner of the room and sat quietly as Quinn ripped the top sheet of poster paper off the easel.

_Credentials _underlined at the top in big black bold letters.

"So, tell me about your perfect man."

Rachel flipped through her binder, "Well, the most _important_ quality is someone that is camera ready."

"Seriously?"

"Of course! You never know, Quinn. Always live your life like you're on an _E!_ reality show."

"Ohhhhkay. Camera ready…so handsome? Put together?"

Rachel nodded, "Meticulous, well-dressed, and someone that takes pride in their appearance."

Quinn nodded as she agreed, "Next."

"Musically talented, and instrument use is a big plus. Song writing an even bigger plus."

"Okay."

Rachel tapped her chin, "Someone that is mature, you know, above crude humor. And with that comes responsibility, they need to be mature and responsible. An adult about things."

Quinn continued to jot down Rachel's demands.

"Oh, and definitely smart, too. I'm tired of having one sided conversations with people."

Quinn laughed, "Anything else?"

"Someone I can trust," the blonde swallowed thickly as she wrote out _trust_ on the pad of paper, "I need someone that will get along with my fathers, and of course is wonderful with kids."

Quinn smiled to herself, hoping that the reason for the last one was because she wanted someone that would get along with Beth.

Quinn put the cap back on the marker and read over the list.

"Where are we going to find someone like this in McKinley?" she laughed.

"Good point," Rachel frowned. "We can broaden the potential candidates to surrounding high schools and colleges."

"Colleges, huh?"

Rachel blushed and averted her eyes to scan over her notes in her binder, "Well, you never know."

"Right, well…let's find you a boyfriend."

The girls really had no idea where to start so they just kept their eyes peeled as they walked through the halls of McKinley. They handed out the chocolate lollipops that they spent their _entire_ Sunday making and people seemed to be _loving_ them. She should have asked Rachel to be her Junior Prom campaign manager, too.

Rachel ran up to Quinn before glee practice the following week, "What about cello boy?"

"Cello boy? You mean…" she looked up to find the boy that sometimes played the cello from the Jazz band. That day, however, he had an electric guitar in his hands, "Actually, I don't even know his name."

"Exactly, Cello boy."

"You know _nothing _about him."

And he certainly didn't look camera ready.

"He plays like 5 instruments."

"But he can't sing."

"During study hall, I tallied up his projected point value based on things I've noticed about him and he scored a 60."

They assigned point values to the qualities that she was looking for in a potential suitor and they scored people based on that.

Ten points each for being smart, mature, responsible, and good with kids. Fifteen points for being trust worthy, camera ready, compatible with her fathers, and musically talented. 5 bonus points if they could write or play an instrument.

Anyone below a fifty didn't make it to the second round of consideration. Though, Quinn secretly didn't consider anyone below a 75. She didn't do things half way, she'd find Rachel a perfect 100, and then some.

The only reason this Cello boy scored so high was because of his five instruments and she couldn't have that.

"Veto."

Rachel stomped her foot, "You can't veto!"

"Of course I can, you asked me to do a job and I'm doing my job. I can veto anyone I want."

"Ugh, you only get five vetoes."

"Ten."

"Fine. But I get three overrides."

"One."

Rachel smiled, "Why are you so good at this?"

"I take it that you don't want to use your veto for him?"

"How about one of the other jazz band boys?"

Quinn grimaced before pulling Rachel's hand until they were sitting on the risers, "Why don't we just decide right now that you shouldn't pursue any guys from glee."

Rachel looked up to find Finn walking through the door, followed by Puck.

Quinn might have allowed Rachel to try her luck with the two boys if she hadn't used all her ex-boyfriends as examples of the horrendous track record she had.

"Fine. But only glee guys from this school, other schools are okay."

"Of course, unless they're suspiciously trying to sabotage our chances at winning a competition."

Rachel agreed. She wouldn't go through that again. "Right."

Mr. Schuester walked in the next second and both girls had to forget about their plan and throw themselves into the music.

It was Friday afternoon when she got the text message from Rachel.

**Meet me at the coffee shop on Main asap**

She wasn't sure what was going on but she was beckoned and Rachel refused to tell her why until she got there. Leaving Beth with her mother, she hopped in her car and made her way to find out what Rachel needed her so badly for.

She sat across from the brunette in one of the comfortable chairs and waited for Rachel to explain everything.

"Don't look, but do you see the guy behind the counter?"

Quinn peered over Rachel's head before the brunette waved her hand in front of her face to halt her.

"I told you not to look!"

"Well, what do you want me to do?"

Rachel sat back in her chair and cautiously looked over her shoulder to see if the counter boy saw them making a scene.

"Okay, look now."

Quinn wasn't sure who she was supposed to be looking for but after a few seconds the boy she assumed Rachel was talking about was taking a customer's order.

"I see him, what about him?"

Rachel looked at her expectantly.

"Oh, _him?_" she studied the boy some more, "I don't know."

"He's cute, well groomed, responsible because he has a job, great customer service skills which goes hand in hand with maturity, _and_ he's been singing along to a few of the songs."

"That's only 50," Quinn tallied quickly, forgetting that she had different standards, "A stretch for a 50, by the way."

"He smiled at me when he gave me my coffee."

"Just a smile?"

"And he said he liked my scarf."

"He's gay."

"You don't even know that."

Quinn stared at the brunette long and hard.

"Fine, then that means he's compatible with my fathers so make his new point total a 65."

The blonde laughed and reached forward to take a sip of her friend's drink, "You realize that if he's gay than he's pretty much a pointless prospect, right?"

Rachel shrugged, "People change teams all the time."

"If I can prove to you that he's gay, will you drop it?"

"Maybe."

Quinn rolled her eyes before getting out of her seat. Rachel was at a cross between panicked and excited.

The blonde strolled up to the counter and waited her turn. She leaned her elbows on the marble counter and began biting her lip as she stared at the board.

"What can I get for you?" the boy asked.

He seemed charming but he had to be to work in a coffee shop, it was like a requirement.

Quinn gave him her order and eyed his name tag, what kind of name was _Bobby?_

"You look familiar, do you go to McKinley?"

The boy smiled and he seemed to have really white teeth, which was probably a plus in Rachel's book.

"No, I'm a senior at Carmel."

She hated Carmel.

"Are you in their show choir club?"

"Yeah actually, I am."

Great.

"So you know Jesse St. James?"

He grimaced, "I hate that kid," and then his eyes widened, "You're not friends with him are you? I mean, I guess he's cool."

Quinn shook her head, "Trust me, I hate him, too."

"Cool." His boyish smirk was a little endearing but he didn't exactly scream anything special. He kind of reminded her of a shorter version of Finn mixed with Kurt's boyfriend, "I was afraid you were dating him or something."

Quinn actually laughed hard, "No, no."

"Would have been a shame," he smiled before handing her the cup of coffee, "Here you go."

She handed him some money and walked back to the table where Rachel was sitting.

"So? What's the verdict."

"Not gay."

Rachel began to clap.

"But he hit on me, so out of the question."

"Well, who doesn't hit on you? I hardly think that counts for anything, you're pretty."

Quinn coughed into her coffee and it scolded her tongue.

"What did you find out about him?"

She considered lying because she didn't really like the kid that much. He was all wrong. A senior at one of their rival schools? He was Jesse 2.0.

Rachel looked hopeful so she decided to just be honest.

"Senior, Carmel High, hates Jesse, and is in their show choir."

"Yes!" Rachel hissed as she fist pumped, "Go back up there and invite him to Homecoming for me."

Quinn choked on her hot coffee again, her taste buds would be dead for a week.

"Absolutely not. Homecoming is _tomorrow_."

"And I still don't have a date."

"You're going to be pulling in last minute votes."

"But it's my senior year Homecoming dance," Rachel jutted her lip out, "Please Quinn, please?"

How could she say no to that face? Quinn would murder Rachel if she ever taught it to her daughter.

"Fine."

The blonde walked back up to the counter and the boy turned around with a smile, "Is something wrong with your coffee?"

She shook her head and beckoned him to come closer, "See my friend over there?"

So maybe it wasn't the best way to go about it but maybe he'd say no if he felt embarrassed enough.

"Rachel?"

"You know her name?"

"I have to write it on the cup."

"Oh, right. Yes, Rachel. She thinks you're cute and it's our homecoming tomorrow and her date bailed last minute for a family emergency," She lied but she didn't want him to think Rachel couldn't get a date. "What are you doing tomorrow at 8?"

"Uhh."

"Going with my friend to homecoming? Great."

"I don't even know her."

"She's a senior from McKinley, beautiful, will kick your ass at Nationals this year, and she's a great dancer. Anything else you'd like to know?" Quinn arched her eyebrow in hopes to intimidate him. It'd been a while since she needed to channel her inner bitch so she was a bit rusty.

The boy cleared his throat, "Um, what color dress?"

"It's black. Easy."

He gave her a hesitant smile but still didn't reply.

"She dated that St. James kid, I'm sure you can rub it in his face somehow."

His eyes slightly bulged, "She's the one that dated St. James? Miss Corcoran's daughter?"

"The one and only, what's it gonna be?"

"Sure, I guess. It could be fun."

She scribbled her address down on a napkin and slid it across the counter to him, "Great! Be at this address at 7:30 and don't be late."

She thought about giving him a fake address as a last ditch effort to sabotage the horrendous idea but she wouldn't be able to bare the look on Rachel's face if her date never showed.

He read it over, "Okay, sure."

"See you then."

"Yeah bye."

Quinn walked back towards Rachel and picked up her coffee cup before grabbing the brunette's arm.

"We're leaving."

"What'd he say?" she rushed out in a whisper, "Did he say no?"

Quinn waited until they got outside and away from the window of the coffee shop before she turned to her dejected friend.

"He said yes."

Rachel looked up and it took a second or two for the news to register before she was jumping up and down and pulling Quinn into a tight hug.

"I thought when you pulled me away you were going to tell me that he said no," she admitted.

"I pulled you away because I knew you'd cause a scene."

"He really said yes?" she asked to make sure.

Quinn smiled softly, "Who wouldn't say yes?"

"I'm sure a lot of people," she replied before she began walking towards her car.

Quinn caught up with her and looped her arm with hers, "Not on my watch."

They got to the brunette's black _Volkswagon_, "Thanks Quinn."

"Of course, it's my job."

Quinn really didn't like the boy that Rachel was going to the homecoming dance with but she figured she'd only have to put up with him for the one night and he'd be out of their lives. She'd make sure that Rachel steered clear of the coffee shop on Main in the future.

He showed up five minutes early and Quinn secretly rolled her eyes when the brunette whispered that he was prompt. The Berry men snapped pictures of the two girls with their dates while Mrs. Fabray videotaped them with the outdated camcorder. It was a tag team situation, the girls joked as they tried their best to hide their embarrassment from both the coffee shop boy and Puck. Rachel demanded that Noah escort the blonde to the Homecoming dance using one of her "_studies show"_ facts that Quinn's almost positive she made up again.

Leroy Berry pulled Quinn aside just before they were about to leave for the dance.

"You'll keep an eye on her tonight? I don't exactly know anything about this boy."

"Trust me, I'm not letting her out of my sight."

He nodded gratefully before squeezing her shoulder, "You both look beautiful, have fun."

The dance was in the school gym but not nearly as fancy as Prom would be. Quinn made sure that they stuck with the other members of the glee club. Safety in numbers.

Bobby seemed to get along with everyone but she still tended to growl in his direction when he stared too openly, or scoff when he said something charming in Rachel's ear. He was even a good dancer. Why couldn't he just mess up so that Quinn could go to the brunette with her argument? She watched them like a hawk, making sure his hands didn't go too low or anything inappropriate like that. It was a school dance after all, she couldn't have them slutting it up on the dance floor.

Figgins got everyone's attention so that he could announce the Homecoming Court. Seconds before he opened the envelope, Quinn found the eager brown eyes in the audience and smiled wide when they were directly on her.

"Quinn Fabray."

She was almost positive that the loudest scream came from Rachel.

It was the next morning as they were eating bagels in their sweats, hair tousled from the night before and makeup smeared that they started talking about the Homecoming dance.

"How does it feel, Miss Homecoming Queen?"

The blonde blushed and ducked her head as she took another bite of her bagel, "I can't believe we did it."

"Of course we did, I was your campaign manager. Next stop, Prom Queen. You should start practicing your wave now."

"I've been practicing my wave since I was three."

Rachel laughed and nudged her shoulder against the blonde's, "So, what'd you think of Bobby?"

Quinn set her bagel down on her lap and shifted her body so that she could look at the brunette easily, "Honestly? He was really nice but, I don't know."

"Too nice, right?"

"Yeah." Quinn replied softly and a little sympathetically, "And he talked about himself a lot."

She knew that was a lie. The only reason he talked so much about himself was because Quinn was rapid fire asking him questions in the car ride there.

"You're right."

"I think we should keep him on the backburner for a while, I mean he's an okay candidate but I think we can find you someone better."

Rachel nodded at the sure confidence in the blonde's tone, "Absolutely."

"I thought you guys would have been Facebook official already," Quinn admitted after a few minutes of silence.

She was beyond relieved that Rachel let the boy loose so easily. She thought she'd have to sabotage his reputation somehow or convince the rest of the glee club to be against it. She just didn't like him, simple as that. She didn't have any other reason.

"I could tell that you didn't like him."

Quinn grimaced, she hoped that she wasn't being _too _obvious, "Really?"

Rachel smiled, "Yeah, I could. But it's okay, you're like my radar. I obviously want nothing but the best, and it's your job to find me someone."

"Right."

"I think we should go to the mall later and check out some future prospects."

Quinn chuckled. Of course the brunette would want to get right back into the ring.

"What are you going to tell Bobby?"

"I already let him know that I thought he was a great guy, it just wasn't a good time."

She wondered when her friend had the time to let the coffee shop boy down easily because she was with her almost every minute of the dance. They got dressed and made themselves presentable before they loaded Beth into the car and took off for the mall.

Quinn sipped her smoothie as Rachel pushed the stroller, "What about that guy?" the brunette pointed to someone that was walking towards them.

"Too short."

"I'm short," Rachel argued.

"But you're like a cute short, he's a creepy short."

The brunette rolled her eyes and shook her head before spotting someone else, "That one over there?" she pointed to a boy in front of the _Forever 21_.

"Has a girlfriend," the blonde replied simply.

"How do you even know that?"

"Why else is he standing outside of a Forever 21 by himself? Obviously his girlfriend is inside shopping."

Rachel huffed when she saw a girl walk up to him and link their hands after they waited ten minutes to see if Quinn had been right or wrong.

"How about that kiosk worker?"

"The one asking to straighten people's hair? No."

"Good work ethic."

"Just, no."

"Fine. Let's go prowl the food court again."

Quinn dutifully followed along and decided not to protest the second time around. It wasn't that she liked turning down Rachel's prospects, it was just getting tiring. Wasn't there anyone out there that could pass as an appropriate suitor?

Not on Quinn Fabray's watch.

They were all either taken, jerks, or big jerks.

Why didn't she put in that much effort when finding a boyfriend for herself?

Because she was happy being independent, that's why. Rachel didn't know what to do with herself when she was single. Though, she didn't really know what to do with herself when she was dating someone either. She was slightly boy crazy. Quinn used to be like that, but then she got pregnant and she stopped caring about trivial things. Boys were trivial things. She had Puckerman for when she needed something heavy lifted, and that was all they were good for. She hated to admit it but if he wasn't the father of her baby, he probably would have been out of her life already.

Pointing out everyone's defects might have been getting tiring but hanging out with Rachel wasn't. That's why she never refused a prowl session.

Sometimes Rachel would skip into one of their shared classes and pass her a list of boy's names to which Quinn would cross them all out and list the reasons on why they were terrible ideas. Rachel was undeterred. She'd pass an even bigger list to her by lunch time. At the rate they were going, the brunette was pretty sure that if Quinn ever approved of anyone, she'd have to marry him. She doubted that she'd ever get an approval, so it didn't matter anyway. It was still fun to hang out with the blonde.

Rachel and Quinn were sitting in the auditorium during lunch one day while they did their homework. They were both sitting in a comfortable silent as they concentrated on their math problems, occasionally flipping to the back of the text book to see if they had the right answer. They learned that it was in their best interest to get their homework out of the way while they were in school.

"I have a date tomorrow night," Rachel spoke up as she continued to work on her Calculus homework.

"Oh? With who?" the blonde asked, clearly distracted by what she was working on.

"A junior named Ryan. He asked me this morning, we're going to go to the movies."

"Wait, what?"

Quinn finally looked up but found that Rachel was still concentrated on solving the problem.

The blonde shifted in her chair, "You're going on a date?"

Rachel nodded and chuckled a bit through her words, "Weren't you listening?"

"Sorry, I—wait, so who is he?"

The brunette closed her text book with her notebook still inside of it and turned to give Quinn her full attention.

"He plays baseball," Rachel offered as if it was a peace treaty.

"Do you even know him?"

"We share first period together, he sits behind me and he passed me a note."

"That's a bit childish, don't you think? Is he five?"

"I thought it was cute."

Quinn tapped the pen to her chin, "What's his point value?"

"Projected is between 60-75."

"Not good enough."

"I already said yes, Quinn. It would be rude of me to not go."

"Is he picking you up at your house?"

Rachel nodded, "8."

"Fine."

"Fine?"

"You're not going out with him until I meet him, so I'll be there after I put Beth to bed."

Rachel laughed and opened up her text book again, "You don't have to do that, I'll be okay."

Quinn didn't listen. Why would she? Rachel was going out on a movie date with an unknown. From what she'd gathered from her underclassman's Intel, he was a decent human being but he had a temper problem.

Absolutely not.

Quinn sat in between Leroy and Hiram Berry on the tan couch in the living room while Rachel's date sat in the arm chair uncomfortably. Not one of them had said a word since he arrived, Quinn stared at him with her arms crossed before clearing her throat.

"What are your intentions?"

The boy fiddled with the sleeves of his varsity jacket and stared at Quinn, "Um, I'm sorry, what?"

"Your intentions," Leroy Berry spoke up, "With Rachel."

The boy looked around, unsure of why he found himself in the middle of a movie scene before his date with Rachel.

"What movie are you seeing?" Hiram cut in after his silence.

The boy cleared his throat, "The new Matthew McConaughey movie."

She'd seen enough of Matthew McConaughey's romantic comedies to know it wasn't a good idea. Cute guy, a few redeeming qualities that make him triumphant in the end, always gets the pretty girl; it just didn't seem like the perfect first date movie.

Besides, Quinn and Rachel were planning on seeing that the next time Puck had Beth for the weekend.

The blonde frowned, "I think you should take her to see the new _Pixar _movie."

Whether he was intimidated by the fact that Rachel's fathers were nodding their heads up and down, silently threatening him, or he was scared of pissing off Quinn Fabray, the boy agreed with them.

"Of course."

"No later than 11, that will give you enough time to watch the movie and get ice cream," Leroy solemnly stated.

It was so different to hear him with a serious tone to his voice, Quinn had only ever heard him laughing or joking around. Thank god she wasn't on that armchair instead of the boy.

"I'll be waiting," Quinn said, "So no funny business."

"Right."

Rachel's voice chimed down the stairwell as she finally finished getting ready. Quinn could hear the boy sigh in relief and she made a mental note to bring it up when she and the Berry men debriefed the situation.

"Have fun Princess," Leroy kissed her forehead as they stood at the main door.

Hiram kissed her next, "Not too late."

The two men walked out the front door with her date and Rachel hung back to say goodbye to Quinn.

"Text me if you need a bail-out." Quinn reminded her for the tenth time since she learned of the date.

Rachel shook her head with a teasing smile on her lips, "You're cute when you're overprotective."

Quinn rolled her eyes, "I mean it."

"I know."

Rachel skipped out onto the porch and joined her date and her fathers. Quinn crossed her arms and leaned against the doorframe as she watched the two get into the car and drive away.

She was going to simply die when her daughter started dated.

Rachel's fathers stopped cheerfully waving once the car was completely out of sight. They turned around and the frowns were evident.

"I don't like him," Leroy stated.

"Not one bit."

"Did you see his face when he saw there were two of us?"

"He didn't even bother calling you _Sir_."

"I can't believe he didn't even open the door for Rachel," Quinn joined in and smiled slightly when both men realized that she was right.

"Good work on the _Pixar_ movie, Quinn." Hiram high-fived her as they walked back into the house.

"I still can't get over the fact that he beeped his horn when he first arrived! As if I'd send my babygirl out in the world with such a monster!"

Quinn laughed and continued to walk further in the house with the men. It was all quite amusing to her, she didn't realize it would be that easy to get the men on board with her.

Leroy walked into the closet and pulled out his coat as he continued to speak, "It was rather fun to play the intimidating father for once," He beamed before handing his husband his coat.

"Oh, you even had _me_ convinced!" Hiram replied as he threw the keys to his husband.

"Where are you guys going?"

"You don't think that we're just going to sit around here while Rachel's in a dark movie theater, do you?"

She'd be mortified if her parents ever pulled something like that with her, and she had a feeling that Rachel would be livid if she found out they were spying on her date, but she was too curious not to.

Quinn thought it might be worth it though, after spending the entire car ride to the movie theater making fun of the boy with Rachel's parents. She felt like a bad friend, but then she realized that it was her job to find the perfect person for Rachel and she didn't feel all that bad anymore.

It didn't stop the breath of relief that escaped passed her lips as Rachel debriefed everything bad about the date to Quinn.

Two weeks later, Quinn found herself once again stressed out over the fact that the person Rachel was going out on a date with, wouldn't be good enough for her.

"It's harmless, we're just going to Blaine's open mic night."

"It's a double date."

"You're just upset that you weren't invited," Rachel teased.

She was upset. Puck was watching Beth that Friday and she was hoping that they could do normal teenage things.

"That's so not the point. He's the competition, Rach. How do you know that he's not just going to kidnap you until you give him our set list."

She doubted that anyone from Dalton Academy could pull off such a sting operation, and she knew that Kurt would be there with her but it wasn't like Kurt would text her with updates. She was pretty sure the boy still didn't like her very much or approve of their friendship, so he wasn't a reliable spy.

Rachel was going out with one of the Warblers which meant she really had no idea who the kid was.

"You're being ridiculous."

She wasn't being ridiculous at all.

"I'll get dropped off here after, it won't be late."

Quinn realized that all the pouting in the world wasn't going to get Rachel to back out of the date so she gave in with a small smirk.

"Not a minute passed 11."

Rachel smiled wide, "I've got to go get ready, I'll see you later."

The brunette quickly hugged her friend and jogged down the steps and to her car in the street. Quinn stood on the front porch with her arms crossed to keep in some of her body warmth in the cold early December air.

"Mommy!" Quinn smiled down as her daughter bumped into the back of her legs.

"What are you doing out here munchkin!" Quinn bent down so that she was eye level with her daughter. "Is Dora over?" The toddler put her tiny hand against Quinn's face and laughed as the blonde started tickling her, "Come on, Rugrat, we've gotta get you ready for Daddy's." She lifted her daughter and walked back inside the warm house.

"Daddy!" Beth chimed throughout the house as Quinn put together some things for her overnight visit.

As promised, Rachel was dropped back off at Quinn's house no later than 11 o'clock and the blonde spent a half hour quizzing the girl as they made a batch of brownies together for the weekend.

"I don't know, he was nice but…not really boyfriend material."

"This is the blonde one on the Warblers?"

"Yes."

Quinn paused from eating her brownie to take a sip of milk.

"Don't worry, we'll find you someone, okay?"

Rachel frowned, "It's starting to look unlikely."

Quinn continued to eat her brownie in silence as Rachel did the same on the couch next to her. She could tell that Rachel was feeling low about the zero progress she'd made in finding the perfect person to date but Quinn didn't know how to make her feel better. It wasn't that Rachel couldn't find dates, they just weren't good enough.

Quinn turned to her with a hopeful smile, "We'll find you someone, I'll make sure of it. It's just a bit of bad luck, don't worry."

Rachel returned the smile, "I appreciate it, Quinn."

Rachel truly was appreciative of all of Quinn's hard work regarding the boyfriend mission they were on. She almost wanted to throw in the towel and forget boys all together in order to start an independent celebrity career.

Quinn, on the other hand, was busy thinking of alternative ways to meet people. Online dating sites? Would Rachel go for that? She entertained the idea for a few seconds before burying it deep in her mind. Maybe they didn't have to actively look for someone, maybe they just needed someone to fall into their lap.

And he did, quite literally. In fact, Rachel's luck was about to change.

It happened by accident. Quinn and Rachel were at a birthday party at the gymnastics place for another girl in Beth's daycare when one of the workers bumped into Quinn and caused her to spill her soda into her lap.

Not the best first impression.

Quinn leapt up from the picnic table and yelped when she felt how cold the ice was on her legs.

"Oh my god, I'm _so _sorry." The boy began attempting to help her but there was really nothing he could do but go get more napkins, "I'm so going to get fired. It's my first day and I've messed up twice already."

Of course it was his first day, because that's how those things worked.

"It's okay, everything's fine, right Quinn?"

The blonde eyed her friend from across the table as she accepted the offered napkins. She knew that Rachel was trying to take control of the situation because Quinn could demand to see his manager. She may have made a scene before she had a daughter merely 25-feet away from her, but that wasn't her style anymore. Still, Rachel intervened and assured the boy that everything would be okay. Even though Quinn wouldn't scream at him, she took a different approach and that was to stay silent. Silence was much more powerful as she found out when Rachel ignored her for 5 months.

"Here, let me go get you another soda."

He scurried off and Quinn continued to soak of the soda from her dress before throwing the wet napkins on her paper plate.

"I'm so not in the mood for this right now."

"He was cute," Rachel replied, "What did you think?"

"Just charming."

Quinn tried to hold back the sarcasm but she was soaking wet and had to sit uncomfortably for another hour before the party ended.

"I'm going to go talk to him," Rachel said before skipping towards the counter.

The blonde attempted to call after her but she heard a loud cry and the panic ran through her as she looked up to find her daughter in tears. She fell off one of the obstacles and got the wind knocked out of her. Quinn ran to her and knelt in front of the crying child as she attempted to catch her breath.

"Shh, it's okay, sweetheart. You're okay." the blonde ran her hand up and down her daugther's back in an attempt to calm her down a bit. "Do you want to go home?"

Quinn normally wouldn't suggest such a thing but she was uncomfortably wet, her daughter was crying so hard that she was silently shaking, and Rachel was off flirting with some doofus.

Beth nodded her head and held her arms out so that Quinn could lift her up.

"Oh my god, what happened?" Rachel asked as she took in the sight of Beth crying into her mother's neck.

"She fell, she's a little shaken up." Quinn didn't mean to be so short with her friend but she wasn't in the best mood all of a sudden, "We're gonna go…"

Rachel distractedly ran her hand over Beth's tiny arm before she realized what Quinn said, "Oh. Right, of course."

"Is your little sister going to be okay?" the boy asked.

Quinn had the overwhelming urge to slap him across the face for some reason.

Rachel cut in before the blonde could open her mouth and correct him, "Nothing a little ice cream won't fix."

The blonde stared at the brunette's profile for a good thirty seconds as she continued to joke with the boy. She couldn't believe it.

"Can you take her?" Quinn asked, already moving her daughter to Rachel's arms. "I need to get her things together."

"Come here Beth, you're okay." she shushed her softly as she started swaying back and forth to sooth the upset child.

"Wow, you're really good with her." Quinn heard the boy tell Rachel as she walked away to get her daughter's bag.

She quietly mimicked his words under her breath as she gathered everything she needed. She really hated this kid. He really had no hope from the beginning. Sometimes you just hate people.

"Are you ready?" Quinn asked hastily as she rejoined them.

Rachel nodded before saying goodbye to the boy but the blonde was already making her way to the door with all the bags and missed what his name was. It was probably better that way. She would absolutely be using one of her veto rights on the kid.

Rachel got Beth situated in the car seat and decided to sit in the back with her so she could hold her hand. The car ride was entirely silent up until Quinn pulled up in front of Rachel's house.

"What are you doing? I thought I was going back to your house."

"Oh I'm sorry, are you no longer ashamed of me?"

"What are you talking about?"

"Oh, is your little sister okay? Oh, nothing a little ice cream can't fix," Quinn repeated, "Is that what I was doing for 9 months? Carrying around my little sister? She's my daughter, Rachel."

"Of course, I know that!"

"So, care to explain why you didn't correct him?"

"I didn't want to scare him off."

"_Oh_. Yeah, that makes me feel better, I'm sorry that the two of us are getting in the way of your dating life."

"That's not fair!"

"Neither is what you did."

"I'm sorry, okay?"

Quinn turned around in the seat to look at her daughter, "Hear that little sis? Rachel's sorry for being ashamed of you."

"Okay, that was absolutely uncalled for! What is your problem?"

Quinn shrugged and turned back around in her seat to stare out her window.

It was silent for a few long seconds before she heard Rachel speak again, but not to her.

"Want to come inside for some ice cream, Beth?"

"Don't you do that. We have to get home." Quinn attempted to intervene but her daughter already heard the word ice cream and became too excited for her own good.

"Ya ya ya ya!"

"Okay, let's get you out of this thing," Rachel replied as she started unbuckling her.

"What do you think you're doing?" Quinn asked.

"I'm bringing her in for some ice cream so that we can talk about this like adults. I'm not fighting with you in front of your daughter."

The blonde watched as Rachel and Beth held hands up the walkway before disappearing inside the house. She _really _didn't want to have a conversation with Rachel. It was the last thing she wanted to do. She had no idea what had come over her but she was furious.

She walked through the front door and found Rachel waiting for her on the carpeted steps.

"Beth's with my dad. Upstairs, now."

The blonde didn't even attempt to protest because she recognized Rachel's tone. It was the tone she used when she was mad. She slowly walked up the steps as if her feet were weights. Rachel had no problem making it up the stairs, in fact, by the time Quinn dragged herself into the bedroom, Rachel was waiting on the area rug with her arms cross and her foot tapping.

"What is going on with you today?"

"For starters, you kidnapped my child just now."

Rachel scoffed and unfolded her arms in order to throw them into the air in front of her, "Oh please. Nice try. I'm serious Quinn, how could you _ever_ think that I'm ashamed of you or your daughter?"

Quinn shrugged. Hearing her words played back to her kind of made her wince. "I don't know," she mumbled.

"You don't know?"

The blonde knew she was in the dog house, Rachel's tone wasn't light, it was prying. Almost as if she was about to pick the fight that Quinn had been trying to start all along.

"_You_ don't know?" Rachel asked again.

Instead of backing down and apologizing, Quinn straightened her posture, "I just said that, didn't I?"

"Unbelievable!"

"What's unbelievable, Rach? That you would lie to some guy that you, I don't know," Quinn held her arm out in search of the words she was looking for, "don't even know?"

Rachel halted her pacing in order to face the blonde, "No. _You _are unbelievable! I adore Beth, I would never—"

Quinn regained more of her confidence and took a step closer to the brunette, "Never what?"

"Be ashamed of either of you. It hurts me that you would ever think that I did that intentionally."

"So then why did you do it? You already said that you didn't want to scare him off. Oh, and another thing, thanks for being there when Beth fell."

"If that's a sarcastic and veiled criticism towards me—"

"It is."

Rachel's mouth dropped open in shock before she gained her composure and settled down, "I think you're overreacting. I get it, you're emotional right now. You got a soda spilled on you, and then Beth almost got hurt, you're upset. I think if we discuss this rationally, we can reach an understanding."

"I haven't even _begun_ to overreact," Quinn gritted through her teeth.

"Well, it's clear that you'd rather be irrational than talk this out so I don't know what you want from me. We've both said some things that we didn't mean and—"

"You're forgetting something, _I'm _not the one that is in the wrong. You're the one that tried to cover up Beth's relation to me, if you're looking for an apology, you're not going to get it."

"Fine."

"Fine."

"Good."

"I'll just grab my little sister, and we'll be out of your hair," Quinn made sure to turn around before she could see Rachel's reaction to her words.

She walked back down the stairs and into the family room where Mr. Berry was keeping her occupied, "Beth, baby, ready to go?"

"No."

Quinn laughed, only because the child was in the _no_ phase of her life. She knelt down so that she could be eye level with the girl, "Do you want ice cream?"

"No!" she replied with a bashful smile on her face.

"No? C'mere you little devil," Quinn began to tickle the girl as she lifted her up.

She looked towards Leroy, "Every word out of this girl's mouth recently has been _no_, even if she means _yes. _Isn't that right?"

"No!" Beth continued to giggle.

"Trust me, I've noticed." Leroy stood from the couch, "Leaving so soon?"

"Mishap at the gymnastics place involving a spilled soda on my dress, slightly uncomfortable."

"Ahh," Mr. Berry nodded, "Well, have a nice evening. Send your mother our best."

"Thank you. Beth say goodbye to Mr. Berry."

"No!"

"High five?" Leroy held out his hand and grinned when Beth slapped it with hers. "See you later, kiddo."

Quinn carried her daughter back outside but saw no sign of Rachel before she left. Probably better off that way since they were both pretty heated. All Quinn could think about was ordering Chinese food, taking a long bath, and renting a movie. The perfect relaxing evening. It'd be better if Rachel could join, but they needed to cool down before they talked again.

"_No!" Julianna cries, lightly banging her fist on the couch._

"_What's wrong?"_

"_Charming is going to get in the way of the Queen Princess and Royal Jester!"_

_Beth surveys her quizzically,"How could you possibly know that already?"_

"_Because!" _

"_You're really rooting for those two to get together, huh?"_

"_DUH!"_

_Beth chuckles, "Yeah, me too."_

"_Keep telling me the story!"_

"_Alright, alright, jeeze!"_

Quinn stared at the clock, it was almost 9pm and Beth was _still_ hollering and screaming in her crib. Nothing was working. Changing her, holding her, singing to her; nothing.

"Sweetheart, this is ridiculous. I'm sure Rachel would be more than happy to come over and help."

"She'll tire herself out soon, Mom."

The DVD was sitting on the coffee table and she was in her bath robe, her relaxing evening was turning into a night from hell. She realized that Rachel was right, she was overreacting about everything but the brunette probably didn't want to hear about it now. And she definitely didn't want her apology to coincide with needing Rachel's help to get her daughter to go to sleep. It was _her_ daughter. This is exactly what she was trying to avoid by having her friend coddle Beth when she cried at night. She was dependent now.

She closed her eyes and held her temples as she listened to Beth wail upstairs. It'd been nonstop for an hour and she had no idea what to do. Not even the DVD of Rachel singing was calming her down.

"This is ridiculous," Quinn mumbled as she picked up her phone and called Rachel.

"Hello?"

"Beth won't stop crying. I've tried everything."

"I'll be right there." Rachel replied quickly.

"Rachel, wait."

"Yeah?"

Quinn attempted to backtrack a bit, "If you're busy or something, don't worry about it."

"No. I'm glad you called, I'll see you in a few minutes."

"Okay, thanks," Quinn replied before hanging up.

She decided to go upstairs to see if she could get Beth to calm down before Rachel had to make the journey over to her house but she still had no results by the time she heard a knock on the door. She went into the hallway and closed the door behind her so she could talk to Rachel.

"I'm sorry you had to come over here," Quinn said.

Rachel waved her off, "It's fine."

"It's not fine. I'm her mother."

"I know, Quinn."

"I should be able to get my daughter to sleep when she's crying. I shouldn't have to call you like this, especially when—"

"Especially when we're fighting?"

"We're not fighting…are we?" Quinn asked helplessly.

Rachel shook her head, "No, we're not. Just an off day?"

Quinn nodded, "Look, I'm sorry that I overreacted, you were right."

"I'm sorry that I upset you."

"You're sure you don't mind?" Quinn gestured towards the door.

"Not at all, I missed the little rugrat."

Quinn laughed, "Thank god, I've been dying to take a bath."

The brunette pointed down the hallway, "Go! I'll take care of her."

"You're the best, there's left over Chinese in the fridge with your name on it."

Quinn sighed in content as she sunk into the warm water of her mother's tub in the master bathroom. It felt nice to finally relax and it was completely silent, Rachel got Beth to stop crying. She leaned her head back on the marble tub and closed her eyes for a bit.

She wasn't sure exactly when it happened but Beth wasn't the only one that was dependent on Rachel. She just hoped it wouldn't bite her in the ass in the long run.

She woke up the next morning to complete silence and stretched under her white comforter before opening her eyes and finding that she was alone. It alarmed her the first few times that it happened, but instead of panicking, she smiled because she knew that Rachel was playing with her daughter in order to give Quinn an extra hour or two of sleep.

She leaned against the playroom doorframe to find the two girls playing with building blocks.

"Sleep good?"

Quinn yawned and nodded before embracing her daughter as she crashed into her leg.

"I found a new way to occupy her," Rachel put a building block at the top of a 3 foot tall stack of blocks.

"Ready Beth? 1…2…3!"

Beth pushed on the blocks and laughed as they fell to the floor.

"Teaching my daughter how to be destructive, nice one, Berry."

Rachel rolled her eyes, "Get dressed, we have errands to run."

Quinn attempted to argue but it was no use, and she was craving some of Mr. Berry's Chocolate Chip pancakes that she knew she was going to get since Rachel never missed a Sunday Brunch with her parents.

"You know, I don't mind driving," Quinn argued as they walked down the Berrys' driveway.

"Yeah but I bought this nifty car seat for Beth and I barely get to use it," Rachel pouted as she buckled the child into said car seat.

"Which I'm giving you money for, there's no reason that you had to go out behind my back and buy one."

"That's exactly why I went behind your back. If your Cheerios practices run late and your mom gets stuck at the office, it's nice to be able to call someone with a reliable car seat, right?"

"I guess," Quinn shrugged, "Where are we off to?"

"Just some things that I need to do."

Quinn put her seatbelt on and let Rachel take the reins for the day. They casually chatted over the nursery rhymes that the brunette insisted be on her iPod for such occasions. They went to the mall and after they were done shopping, they waited in the line so that Beth could get her picture with Santa Claus. They then stopped at the grocery store, and finally the Gymnastics place.

"Why are we here?"

Rachel didn't answer her. Instead, she turned off the car and got Beth out of the backseat just as Quinn was getting out of the car.

"I knew you wouldn't voluntarily come here with me after yesterday."

"So you set me up?"

"Not exactly."

"What are we doing here?"

"Follow me," Rachel walked towards the doors and waited for Quinn to be at her side. "Excuse me, would you please tell Chase that there's someone here to see him?" she asked the person behind the concession stand.

"What are you doing?" Quinn hissed, "Give me my child, we're leaving."

Rachel held up a hand, "Calm down."

"Calm down?"

The boy from the day before walked through the swinging door behind the counter a moment later. His hesitancy vanished when he recognized the two girls.

"Hey Rachel, what are you doing here?"

"Chase, this is Quinn."

"Hi Quinn, I'm really sorry about yesterday."

Rachel cut in before the blonde could say anything, "This is Quinn's daughter, Beth."

"Seriously?"

"Quite."

He stared at the little girl before looking at Quinn, "But you're so young."

"I apologize for wrongfully misleading you to believe that this was her little sister."

"That's…okay?"

"Great. It was nice meeting you Chase."

"Nice meeting you…too?"

Rachel nodded firmly before she walked back towards the doors.

Quinn was still slightly shocked at how fast everything had happened and stared at the boy for a few seconds, both not knowing what to say.

"Umm, yeah bye."

She got back into the car as Rachel was getting Beth back into the car seat, "What was that all about?"

"I'm not ashamed of you."

"That was kind of an embarrassing way to prove it, don't you think?"

"You have nothing to be embarrassed about!"

Quinn laughed to herself as she got in the car, she couldn't even be mad at Rachel, "Thank you."

The next day, the girls met in their usual spot in the auditorium, to work on their homework. They were back to square one on the search for Rachel's boyfriend

"_Wait!"Julianna cries again and inches closer to Beth on the couch._

"_Now what?"_

"_Why is the Queen Princess trying to find a suitor for the Royal Jester? They're perfect for each other!"_

"_You think so, huh?"_

"_YES!"_

_Beth laughs, "Anyway…so as I was saying…"_

Rachel ran up to Quinn in the hallway as school let out, "What if I try to date Mr. Schuester again?"

"Again?"

"Long story."

"Ummmm, no."

Rachel frowned, "Why not?"

"Because that's illegal."

"Yeah but I need a good scandal under my belt! The tabloids will need something to use against me in order to bring me down!"

"I can't even take you seriously right now."

"Fine. What about Karofsky?"

Quinn closed her locker, "Are you out of your mind?"

"Why not?"

"Just, no."

"Well, why?"

"Do I really need to give you a reason?"

"Yes, I'd like one."

"Besides the fact that he scores like, a zero, on your scale. He's a bully, and he treated you like crap."

Rachel frowned, "He's changed."

"I'm not letting you even consider him so stop asking."

"But it's like a fairytale, Quinn! Falling for someone that used to treat you poorly? Overcoming the odds? The press will love it. It's all so, _A Walk to Remember_, don't you think?"

Quinn stared at her and tried to hide her smile. Rachel could be really dramatic without even trying. "What I think, is that it's a horrible idea."

Rachel looped her arm with Quinn's, "Hey, you were a bully and look at us now, we're friends."

"That's different."

"How?"

"It just is. I'm officially vetoing Karofsky."

"Everyone deserves a second chance, Quinn. I gave you one. I'm using my override."

"For Karofsky? You're out of your mind. Save your override…Karofsky is gay."

"Is not."

"Is to."

"You're just saying that."

Quinn stopped walking and turn to Rachel, "Think about it. Pent up aggression that he takes out on other kids and a weird obsession with Kurt."

"That hardly constitutes—"

"He dated Santana to cover himself."

"How do you know that?"

"She told me."

Rachel stomped her foot, "Is there anyone that isn't gay in this town?"

"_What's gay?" Julianna asks with an adorable scrunch to her tiny face._

_Beth's eyes double in size as she realizes that she slipped up by accident, "Gay means…happy! Yes, gay means that you're really happy."_

_Julianna accepts the answer after a few long seconds, "Oh I get it, 'cause why would the Royal Jester want someone who was sad all the time?"_

_Julianna thankfully misses the point and Beth is relieved, "Exactly."_

"This is _so_ exciting," Rachel gushed as she flipped through a catalogue for a department store. "Don't you agree?"

Quinn thought it was rather stressful but she hummed her response as she continued to flip through her own catalogue.

"Making holiday lists is one of my favorite past times!" Rachel exclaimed as she circled another toy on the page. "And making a Christmas list for Beth is even better!" She stuck another _post it _note on the page.

"This is just the preliminary look-through, you are aware of that right?" Quinn asked as she eyed the hundreds of post-it notes peeking out from in between the pages of the catalogue. "Beth isn't getting all of these presents."

"I know that," Rachel replied but her tone most certainly didn't back up her statement.

"Rachel," Quinn warned, "Don't even think about it. And tell your dads the same thing."

"I'll gladly forfeit some of the holiday budget allotted to me in favor of putting it into Beth's budget."

"No. She's spoiled enough as it is! She gets tons of presents from me and my mom, Puck's family, and my sister. Not to mention relatives and family friends. I'm not adding your dads to that list."

Rachel tried to innocently smile but Quinn noted that it seemed a bit smug and victorious, "Too late, they've already begun walk-thru shopping for her, and they've been prowling the blogs to find the latest toy fads for her age group. I suggest you register at a few stores so that people don't buy the same item as someone else."

"I'm having you committed," Quinn joked as she grabbed the magazine away from Rachel and handed her another one to look through. She just wanted to see what types of toys and items the brunette had circled.

They were sitting at one of the blue plastic picnic tables at the gymnastics place while Beth attended yet another party for a girl from her daycare. Once again, the girls were running around on the blue mats as if they'd never seen the light of day before and Quinn chuckled as she watched the frustrated party chaperone.

A blue tray slid onto the table between them, "Two fries, a basket of chicken tenders, a slice of pizza, two burgers, two diet sodas and a chocolate milkshake, did I do good?" Puck asked as he straddled the side of the bench that Quinn was sitting on.

"You did great," Rachel replied with her head down as she flipped through the pages manically, "Thank you Noah."

He smirked before grabbing his milkshake, fries, and two burgers and clicked his tongue when he realized he forgot the condiments, napkins, and straws. Quinn set Rachel's slice of pizza in front of her and put the fries between them before kicking her shin with her foot to get Rachel's attention.

"Eat."

Puck came back to the table and dug into his food, "I wanna get Beth one of those cars for toddlers, you know, like those Escalades they have that she can drive."

"Absolutely not!"

"I had a pink convertible when I was younger, easily the best investment my fathers made."

Puck nodded towards Rachel, she was actually pretty good to have around. His daughter loved her and she agreed with some of the things he said. "See? They're totally safe. We can even get her a pink one."

Quinn looked back and forth between the two and shook her head, "No."

Puck called her earlier in the morning and told her that he no longer had to watch his little sister so he could join her at the birthday party, it'd been a while since he'd been able to attend one with her so she happily agreed.

"C'mon," Puck started, "She'll be the coolest little girl on the block!"

Quinn looked to Rachel to find her eagerly nodding, "I'll _think_ about it."

Rachel squealed and Puck held out his fist for her to bump. Maybe it wasn't such a great idea for the three of them to get together, they seemed to team up on her often.

"Hey Rachel."

Quinn looked up to find the soda-spiller boy casting a shadow over their table, she looked back to Rachel to find her dropping her slice of pizza on the plate and reaching for a napkin.

"Chase, how are you?"

Quinn had completely forgotten about the boy since the last encounter. To be honest, she just assumed she was done having to consider him a prospect since Rachel was quite adamant about never repeating what had happened between them ever again.

"I'm good," he swallowed nervously as he saw Quinn shooting daggers into him and Puck with his solemn expression before clearing his throat, "Can I talk to you?" he jerked his head behind him, "Over here?"

Quinn was about to open her mouth but realized that it wasn't her place to say a word. Rachel looked to both her friends before nodding hesitantly, "Of course."

She stood from the table and followed the boy, Quinn turned to watch her walk away. What's this kid's angle?

"Who's the tool?"

Quinn turned back to Puck and took a sip of her soda, "No one. Soon to be irrelevant."

"_Beth!"Julianna huffs exaggeratedly. _

"_Julianna!" Beth mimics_.

"_Why do they keep going back to the Gladiator Arena if that's where Charming is!"_

_Beth thinks about it, "That's a very good question. I don't know."_

"_You know what I think?"_

"_What do you think?"_

"_I think that the Queen Princess likes the Royal Jester."_

"_You think so?"_

"_Yes! Don't you?"_

"_But the Queen Princess has a very important job to do, I don't think she realizes how much she likes the Royal Jester."_

"_Beth?"_

"_Yes?"_

"_Is this a Disney movie?"_

_Beth laughs, "No, it should be, though, huh?"_

_Julianna nods eagerly with wide eyes and gestures for the babysitter to continue._

Puck sat in the front seat as he listened to the two girls playfully bicker back and forth, at least he assumed it was playful. It appeared that his baby mama was actually quite serious about it.

"He's easily a 70 pointer," Rachel claimed from the back seat.

"Not _even!_" Quinn argued.

"What are you guys even talking about?"

"He's smart, he's mature, he's responsible, he works with kids, he's trust worthy and he's gorgeous." Rachel listed on her fingers, "That's 70 points."

"You have no idea if he's trust worthy _or_ smart."

"I like him!"

Quinn eyed her in the rearview mirror so that Rachel understood that she meant business, "I'm not letting you go out on a date with him!"

"That's why I'm asking you two to tag along! A double date!"

"Wait, what?" Puck asked as Quinn roared next to him.

"I'm _not_ going out with the two of you. He'll probably spill his soda on my lap again."

"He apologized for that."

"What happened?" Puck tried again uselessly.

"He's doesn't seem so responsible if he's going around and maliciously dropping sodas on people's laps."

"It was an _accident_!"

"Daddy!" Beth kicked the back of his seat happily, "Daddy!"

"Hi princess!" Puck turned around to make eye contact with his daughter, at least she paid attention to him.

"Please Quinn! I think he could be the one," Rachel replied sadly, "It's not every day that someone cute like him wants to take me out on a date."

Quinn slowed down as she approached Rachel's house, "I'll think about it," she finally decided.

"Thank you." Rachel hugged her from the back seat and ruffed up Puck's Mohawk before kissing Beth's forehead and opening the car door, "I'll see you later tonight. Bye Beth!"

"Bye Yachel! Bye bye bye bye bye."

Quinn waited until Rachel got into her house before pulling away.

"We should go for her," Puck spoke up.

"The kid is bad news. And I don't feel like spending one of my few nights off in his company."

"I'm not disagreeing with you, there's something not right with him but Rachel's done so much for you and our daughter, don't you think you could give her a few hours?"

Well when it was put like that, how could she say no?

"Besides, I think it will be eye-opening for you."

"What's that supposed to mean?"

Puck shrugged and looked out the window, "Nothing."

Quinn continued to drive towards her house where Puck left his car, "You know, you can stay for a bit, I'm sure Beth would love it."

Puck turned to her with a smile, "Look at us, getting along and stuff."

Quinn rolled her eyes playfully, "You're not that bad," she teased.

The blonde pulled into her driveway and let Puck get their daughter out of the carseat, "When do you wanna go shopping for this one?"

Quinn let the wicked smile slide onto her face as she opened her front door, "I have the perfect night."

It was an epic fail on Quinn's part, her brilliant idea backfired. She and Puck went holiday shopping for Beth and allowed Rachel and Chase to tag along. Quinn hated everything about him. His too smooth lines, the way he whispered things into Rachel's ear to make her giggle, and especially the way Rachel hung on every word he said. No one was that perfect. They were practically necking in the middle of the mall! She figured that Chase would see all the crazy—yet, endearing to her—sides of Rachel as they shopped and he'd be over her but not only did he adore her but Quinn could barely focus on the shopping task. She had _no_ idea what Puck even convinced her to buy.

The only reason that she hated him was because she realized that once Rachel found her boyfriend, Quinn's job was essentially over. Does that mean that Rachel doesn't really need her anymore? Were they going to stop being friends? Beth was already so dependent on Rachel and she knew that this would happen. Beth crying her eyes out one night while Rachel was on one of her _dates_ with Chase. It made her even more mad, that her daughter had to suffer because Rachel would rather make googly eyes at some kid.

"He asked me to be his girlfriend!" Rachel jumped up and down excitedly a few days after Christmas, "I rushed right over so you'd be the first to know! We did it!" she hugged the blonde.

"That's…awesome," Quinn gritted through her teeth. It so wasn't awesome. Now her best friend was going to have no time for her and she had to share her with some doofus.

Quinn wondered if Rachel could tell how bitter she was about the entire thing. She tried not to be too obvious but she'd worked so hard to become best friends with Rachel and she felt like she was suddenly losing her. She understood, she was in the puppy-dog stage of a relationship and it would hopefully soon blow over. She just needed him to mess up somehow, or show his true colors.

Ask and she shall receive.

Quinn dropped Beth off at Puck's earlier in the morning and she decided to run to the gymnastics place while Rachel was at one of her singing lessons. Not because she wanted to see Chase or anything, in fact, Rachel claimed that he wasn't working that morning since apparently she knew his entire life's schedule or something, but because she'd rather do it before Rachel had the chance to convince her to do it another time. She was scheduling Beth's birthday party since it seemed to still be _the_ place to have a little girl's birthday party. She had to book it far in advance. If Rachel knew that she was planning on having the birthday party at the gymnastics place, she would have told her to wait until Chase was working so that Rachel could tag along. She'd rather just get it over with. She had her planner out on the counter and was deciding on possible days that coincided with open days from the party planning calendar when she heard it.

A shrill squeal, the sound of ice hitting the floor, and liquid dripping. It was all too familiar and it caused her to turn around in curiosity. She saw a brunette, probably around her age, looking down at her wet clothes with a boy in the purple polo uniform shirt sym_pathetically_ apologizing.

"Holy shit," she muttered under her breath as she ducked behind some of the merchandise in the pro-shop.

"I'm _so_ sorry," the boy told the girl, "It's my first day and I'm being so clumsy, I'm so getting fired over this."

The girl tried to smile, "It's fine, really. Not to worry."

"Son of a bitch!" Quinn narrowed her eyes as the boy turned around fully and she got a clear view of his face, "That little sleazebag!"

"Ma'am?" the lady behind the counter came back and was surveying Quinn's crouched position behind the rack of sweatshirts.

Quinn straightened up and walked back over to the counter to tell the woman that she'd be back in at a later date to arrange the party.

Was Chase running some kind of sleazy pickup ring? How many girls had he _accidentally_ spilled soda on? Wait a second, he spilled the soda on Quinn, _not_ Rachel. Had he been trying to pick her up instead?

She didn't know how to go about this. Rachel needed to know immediately but Quinn knew how these things worked. It was clear that she didn't like the boy, would Rachel trust her enough to believe her? She hoped so.

She decided to most definitely handle the boy though, she could figure out a way to let Rachel know later. Maybe she could threaten the boy to tell the truth.

"Hey, buddy," Quinn called after him as he was coming out from behind the concession stand counter.

"Hey Quinn, how are you? Is Rachel here?"

Quinn stared at him, "Is that worry I'm seeing? Afraid she saw your little attempt at picking up some girl by spilling your soda on them?"

Chase smirked easily, as if he wasn't fazed at all by Quinn's tone, "You're going to tell on me?"

"No. You're going to tell her."

He chuckled, "It's nice to see you, Quinn. You haven't been around much…guess Rachel's starting to forget about you."

The blonde took a threatening step closer, the adrenaline running through her body, guiding her every move. It was exhilarating.

"I'm not going to let you hurt my best friend."

"You care about her an awfully lot, a little too much. Too bad she doesn't care about you the same way."

"What are you even talking about?"

"You're a charity case for her, a teen mom? It's pathetic. What are you going to do?"

Quinn shook her head with a chuckle. It was a nice attempt but she was smarter than that. "This isn't going to work, I trust Rachel and I know damn well that you're just making shit up now."

"You may trust her, but is she going to trust you? When you desperately try to tell her all about the big, bad, mean boyfriend? Good luck."

"You're _so_ on my list."

As much as she hated to admit it, he was right. Rachel probably wasn't going to believe her. Chase had done nothing to even give off douchebag vibes to her. It didn't help matters that he had somehow gotten to her first.

She sat in the seat next to Rachel in the auditorium at lunch, "Rach, I have to tell you something." She took a deep breath. She knew that the odds of believing her were slim to none but it didn't deter her. It was important to look shaken up about it though. "You might not believe it, but you have to trust me okay? Promise me, I'd never do or say anything to intentionally hurt you, okay?"

"What's going on, you're scaring me."

Quinn took another deep breath, "It's about Chase."

Rachel frowned deeply, the worry rising to her features. "What about him?"

"He's not who you think he is. He's…well, he's actually not at all who you think he is. I saw him on Saturday, flirting with someone."

She hoped that Rachel didn't dwell on the fact that it took Quinn two days to tell her the news, she just wanted to tell her in person and this was the first chance she got.

"What? Where?"

"The gymnastics place. On Saturday."

"Impossible. He wasn't working that day. And what were you even doing there? Beth didn't have a party did she?"

Quinn waved her off, "No, I was scheduling one for her and I saw him. He spilled his drink on someone and then flirted with the girl."

"I'm sure he wasn't flirting, you're mistaken."

"He told her it was his first day on the job, doesn't that sound familiar?"

Rachel drew her bottom lip into her mouth and shook her head, "He probably was just nervous that she'd complain to his manager so he told her a white lie so she wouldn't be so mad."

"You're making excuses for him."

"I'm giving him the benefit of the doubt." She defended herself.

"Rachel, wake up."

"You know what, I think you're right, I need to wake up. He was right about you."

Quinn physically leaned back, "Excuse me?"

"He thinks you _hate_ him, and he doesn't know why. I'm starting to agree. What is your problem with him? He's been nothing but nice to you and you've done nothing but rip his every action apart. I happen to really like him, Quinn Fabray, and I'm tired of having to defend myself when I want to hang out with him. You need to get over your jealously issues."

"No, really, excuse me?"

Rachel sunk down a bit, clearly shocked at what she was saying but not wanted to back down, "You heard me."

"My _problem_ with him is that he's not good enough for my best friend."

"Well who is?"

Quinn flinched as Rachel stood and screamed at her, "Rach—"

"No, who is going to be good enough for me?" she lowered her voice a bit, "I'm tired of guys not respecting me, or taking advantage. Finn only wanted me when he didn't have me and Jesse used me, Chase is different. He never tells me that I'm talking too much, and he doesn't pressure me to be more intimate. He may not be the perfect 100 but he's the best I'm going to do and I'm okay with that because we like each other."

"I'm telling you, Rachel, there's something not right about him."

"No, Quinn, I'm telling you, leave it alone." Rachel swiped some wetness from under her eye with the back of her hand and stood taller, "I appreciate all that you've done but I no longer need your assistance regarding my love life."

"You're making a mistake."

"Maybe I am, but it's my mistake to make."

Quinn stood up to match Rachel's stance, "You want to be stubborn? Fine. You want to trust some _boy_ that you've known for two months over your best friend? Go right ahead. Don't come sobbing to me when you find out what a scumbag he is because I tried to warn you. I actually care about you and I don't want to see you get hurt, but _when_ he hurts you, I would think twice about this moment because it all could have been avoided. And another thing, I don't want him around my child, so you have some serious decisions to make."

Rachel sighed, "Quinn—"

"I can't believe you would take his side over mine, especially after all we've been through together. Your dads? They hate him. They don't trust him and I agree. You want to know why Jesse cracked eggs over your head or why Finn walked all over you? It was because you let them. You ignored the warning signs and you didn't have a friend to help you."

"You're not being much of a friend right now."

"You're right." Quinn decided as she started to grab her books.

"Where are you going?"

"I think I should leave you alone for a bit. We—_I_ need to cool off."

"O-okay."

"I'll talk to you later."

"Wait, Quinn…are we? Are we okay?"

"I'm not sure."

Rachel nodded with red rimmed eyes and attempted to smile but couldn't do it. She looked down to the ground and Quinn was too worked up to allow her to soften her. She was royally pissed at the entire situation. She was pissed that Chase got to her first, she was pissed that Rachel was taking his side, she was pissed that she lost her temper with her friend, and she was especially pissed that now they were fighting over it. It's exactly what he wants. She couldn't think of him because all she could see was his smug and cocky grin and it made her want to go on a manhunt looking for him so she could slap it off his dumb face.

"_I don't like this." Julianna shakes her head. "I don't like this one bit."_

_Beth nodded and looked at the clock, "It's almost 11, can't we finish this story next time?"_

"_NO!"_

Quinn was in the library the next day. She hadn't spoken to Rachel since the day before in the auditorium and it was obvious that the girls were fighting. Even Santana made a comment. She barely got any sleep the night before because she couldn't stop thinking about how she should call Rachel and apologize. But she couldn't! They would just get into another fight over the boy at another time. She needed to come up with a plan. As much as it hurt her to slap Rachel with the reality of the situation, it needed to be done. She needed to expose Chase for his lying ways and if it meant that she'd lose her friendship with the brunette then so be it. She'd sacrifice it so that Rachel wouldn't be heartbroken in the long run.

She looked up from her notebook of scribbled hatred hoping to find the brunette sitting across from her at the back corner table in the library. Even though they weren't speaking, she still missed her every minute they were apart. They met in the library occasionally but clearly the blonde hadn't told her friend that she'd be there so it made sense that when she finally looked up she wasn't staring into the brown eyes that had grown so familiar to her. The eyes belonged to Kurt.

Kurt watched her continue to draw things with her black pen, "What are you working on?" he asked, crossing his legs and leaning back in his chair.

Quinn looked down at her caricature-like drawing of what resembled Chase. His nose was exaggerated, and there were _X's_ instead of eyes, and there were a bunch of little knives around his head, but it was clear that it was him.

"Nothing important."

"So you have time to chat?"

She glanced down at her notebook and continued to shade in his uni-brow.

"Um, sure."

"At the beginning of the year, I hated you."

She looked up, "Okay?"

"And I'm putting it mildly."

"Look Kurt—"

"Let me finish."

The blonde snapped her mouth shut at the no-nonsense attitude coming off of Kurt in waves. She decided to grant him his request.

"You hurt Rachel, really bad. When I went to her house the night of Beth's 1st birthday to find her _still_ crying over the mean things she overheard you saying, well I pretty much wanted to kill you."

Quinn sighed, she knew that she messed up with that but wasn't she done with repaying her debt? She knew that she probably had to have this talk with Kurt since Rachel was still really close with him but she really didn't feel like having it while the two girls were fighting, "Is there a point to this?"

"But I see her now, and I see how close you two have gotten. She considers you her best friend, and I can see that you feel the same about her."

Quinn nodded unsurely, she wasn't in the mood to be reminded of the fact that she missed Rachel while they were in the middle of a fight but something told her that she wanted to hear what he had to say.

"Are you just going to tell me not to hurt her? Because if that's what this is, you can save your breath. It's not _me_ that you should be having this discussion with."

He chuckled a bit and fixed his hair, "No. That's not what this is. I see what you're doing, how you helped her find someone, and I appreciate it. You know, what you did."

"Thanks."

"I'd like to help you."

"You'd like to help me?"

"You two have been at this for what? 3 or 4 months? All you've managed to do is find her a boy that's questionable, at best."

She agreed with him but didn't like that her hard work was so easily belittled, "That's not true, she's been out with plenty of guys. And I've managed to find her a boyfriend." She gritted through her teeth. A stupid, best friend stealing, arrogant, pretentious jackass of a boyfriend.

"You don't think he's good enough though, right? In fact, no one seemed to be good enough."

She laughed, "That's because none of them were. And yes, I don't think Chase is the ideal man but Rachel seems to be dead serious about continuing her relationship with him. She's made it quite clear that nothing I say or do will convince her that he's not who she thinks he is."

"Maybe if you found her _another_ person, someone who is that _perfect_ companion, maybe she'd be more inclined to leave this loser and date the new one."

"I doubt it. You want me to find someone else for her? Right now I'm trying to find out ways to sabotage their relationship, I've got my hands full."

"What's going to happen when you succeed in showing her this boy's true intentions, hmm? You'll need someone for her to fall back on…someone to comfort her when she cries."

Why couldn't Quinn be that person? They were best friends, isn't that the best friend's job?

"I guess, but I'm pretty sure we've been through every guy in this town and no one seemed right. Well, there was that coffee shop boy who was sparkling in comparison to this jerk."

"Well, I did attend an all boy's school and I believe I can help you find someone if you let me help."

Quinn thought about it for a few seconds. He seemed genuine and behind her, Kurt was Rachel's second best friend. Maybe he'd even help her convince Rachel that Chase is no good for her.

"Fine."

He smiled, "Great, so tell me what kind of person you're looking for. Someone that you will without a _doubt_ allow Rachel to date seriously."

"Okay well, Rachel wants someone that's—"

"No, no. I'm interested in who _you_ think is good enough for Rachel."

"Oh."

She hadn't actually ever sat down and listed the qualities that _she_ thought should be in the boy that Rachel wanted.

"Well um," she stalled, not quite sure what to say. "Okay, well, she needs someone that is smart. Both street smart _and_ book smart. Someone that can pass her cute notes during her AP classes. What are you doing?"

Quinn looked across the table to find Kurt writing.

"Oh, I'm just jotting them down so I can get a visual. Please, continue…"

"Okay," she thought some more, "Someone grown up but still can connect with their inner child."

He nodded and continued to write, "Go on."

She ran a hand through her hair, "Responsible but knows how to have fun occasionally. Someone that can make her laugh, that's really important. She needs someone she can joke around and banter with."

The more she talked the easier it was to come up with the type of guy that was perfect for her friend. It was easy. She knew almost everything about Rachel and the kind of person that she'd get along with.

"Someone musical. Someone that can sing with her and keep up. I think that musicians are all about themselves so someone that plays a modest instrument, like the piano or something. I don't want anyone that will be all about themselves."

She continued, "Obviously someone good looking, but they need to be naturally good looking. Not someone vain that knows they're good looking but the shy kind of beauty that is endearing."

"No one insecure or whiny, definitely someone that isn't intimidated by her but someone that's okay with giving her the spotlight when she needs it. A behind the scenes support system. Confident but not cocky, protective but not overbearing, someone that really understands who Rachel is."

"Anything else?"

"They need to be able to joke around with her fathers, and they _definitely_ need to pass the Beth test."

Kurt's eyebrow raised, "The Beth test?"

"Yeah, Beth needs to like them."

"Of course."

"She needs someone who can handle all of her crazy and still appreciate everything that comes out of her mouth. They can be the complete opposite of each other but somehow entirely complement each other. Someone that needs her just as much as she needs them."

Kurt continued writing down everything Quinn was giving him. She racked her brain for more but she couldn't really think of anything else off the top of her head. She felt that her criterion was unreachable. Who could ever live up to the expectations she had in her mind?

Kurt beamed, "I have the perfect person."

Quinn sat on the edge of her seat, "Really? Who? Do I know them? Will I like them?" she asked skeptically.

"I have a feeling it will all make sense."

"Well, who is it?"

Kurt smiled to himself as he continued to write before he turned the notebook around so she could see the name he jotted down.

At first, she wasn't sure where to look but then she saw it, in big bold letters over the chicken scratch writing that she assumed was the list he copied down.

_Quinn Fabray_.

"Shit."


	4. Happily Ever After

**Final chapter :( Thanks so much for reading. Sorry for any mistakes and thank you for being patient. Hope you enjoyed the journey. :)  
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><p>Beth stands up from the couch in order to stretch her legs and reposition herself. Julianna does the same and when the little girl sits back down, she lays her head on Beth's lap.<p>

"I'm so glad you're our babysitter and you know this story."

Beth smiles down at the girl and begins running her fingers through Julianna's hair the same way Rachel would do to her when she was younger. Her mom often made her go to bed at a certain time but occasionally Rachel would sneak in when she was visiting and tell Beth part of the story or sing her a song. She loved when Rachel would sing to her on those occasional nights, it calmed her and she _never_ had any nightmares after falling asleep to Rachel's voice.

"Me too," Beth replies. "Shall we?"

"Yeah," the girl yawns and closes her eyes.

"You look tired, why don't we call it a night."

"I'm just closing my eyes so I can picture it better!"

"Okay," she speaks softly, "So the Queen Princess finally realizes that she's in love with the Royal Jester after all this time…"

* * *

><p>Quinn paced back and forth across the hardwood flooring outside of the pink area rug in Beth's play room.<p>

"Oh my, God. I like her. I like my best friend." She turned to look at the other occupants of the room before bringing her palm up to her forehead and brushing her bangs out of her eyes, "I'm in love with Rachel Berry."

"Yeah, we heard you the first hundred times you said it," Santana rolled her eyes and didn't bother to hold back any of the sarcasm.

"I like when she says it," Brittany chimed in from her spot on the light green beanbag chair with White polka dots.

Quinn stared at the two girls in their various spots and cracked a smile that only grew wider when Brittany also began smiling, "I love her."

Brittany did a solid fist pump in the air while Santana dodged another wooden block thrown at her head by Baby Beth.

Quinn held her arms out and shrugged, "I just love her."

"That's great and all, and I'm happy for you, but can we discuss why your spawn of Satan daughter hates me so much?"

Quinn continued to pace back and forth while mumbling under her breath, words like _of course_, and _love_, and _perfect_ spewing out of her mouth in hushed whispers as she heard the shrill laughter of her daughter and ignored the irritated Santana.

"Beth, what the hell is your problem? Why are you trying to kill me?"

Beth giggled some more and picked up another colorful wooden block from her ammo pile.

Quinn turned around, "Santana don't curse in front of her, she's been repeating everything these—"

"Hell!" Beth hurled another block and continued her maniacal laughter as Santana caught the block, "Hell, hell, hell, hell."

"Wonderful," Quinn glared at her friend, "Britt, can you do damage control?"

Brittany nodded, "Beth, come sit with me," she held her arms out and Santana scoffed as the child listened and walked over to sit on Brittany's lap.

"Seeing my name on that piece of paper, everything—"

"Clicked," Santana finished. "We know. It was like, the stars aligned and all that gay stuff."

Quinn sighed and nodded while Brittany and Beth started to make farm animal noises together.

"So what are you going to do about it? She's still with Captain," she paused and cupped her mouth, "Douchebag," she whispered so Beth wouldn't hear. "And she already thinks the kid is the greatest thing since Broadway. It's always, '_my boyfriend this' _or _'my boyfriend that'_, it's exhausting to listen to her."

"What _am_ I going to do?"

For the first time since learning of her blatant feelings for Rachel earlier that afternoon, she finally realized the situation she was in. Rachel was still with the boy, Quinn was very much in love with her, and no matter how it all played out, there was probably going to be tears and heartbreak. And she wasn't even sure if Rachel would even like her. She thought back to the position she was in almost a year ago when Rachel refused to speak with her and realized that she got the brunette to be her friend then and she would get the girl again. She had to.

Santana glared at Beth as the little girl narrowed her eyes back at her, "She's like a little Puckerman, she even has his creepy smirk."

"It's not creepy, it's cute… on her at least."

Quinn plopped herself down in the rocking chair with a heavy sigh while Santana stared at the child a little longer. Brittany and Beth somehow understood each other and they could be occupied for hours. Regardless of how much Beth tormented Santana, she still smiled when the two girls bonded.

Santana didn't know the exact position that Quinn was in but she had a clue. She'd always remember the moment when reality slapped her across the face and made her realize that Brittany was someone that she had feelings for. Granted, it just _happened_, but her friend was going through something similar with Rachel. Santana knew how it felt to watch someone she cared for be with someone else.

With Beth still busy playing with Brittany, Santana stood from her spot on the floor and found a clean piece of paper on the easel and wrote down some ideas for sabotage. One of them was bound to work. Quinn perked up a bit as she saw what Santana was writing, slowly becoming more and more confident that she could get her best friend back.

They were camped out in Santana's car in the parking lot of the gymnastics place, waiting to see any sign of Chase. Neither Santana nor Brittany had met him before so they had no idea who they were looking for, but Quinn insisted that they make visual confirmation before going through with the plan. It'd been three days since erecting _operation chase charming away_ but the farthest they'd gotten was staking out the place from the parking lot.

"There he is," Quinn pointed and Santana got her game face on.

"Finally," she muttered under her breath.

"Let's go over it again," Quinn prompted as she checked to make sure that there was enough battery power on her mother's outdated camcorder.

"We've been over it a hundred times," Santana complained.

Quinn agreed but she wanted to make sure that Brittany knew exactly what was going on so her cover wasn't blown.

"I'll go in first and hide somewhere out of sight so I can videotape everything, and then you and Britt will come in and try to flirt with him. Remember your cover story, you have a flat tire and you're waiting for a tow truck so you came in to get something to eat."

Santana checked her lip gloss and makeup in the mirror before pursing her lips and shooing Quinn away, "Yeah, yeah, yeah, go already. I'm getting antsy."

Quinn got out of the car and adjusted the baseball cap she borrowed from Puck so she wouldn't be recognized and made her way into the gymnastics place. She went right to the merchandise section and ducked behind the sweatshirt rack and waited for her friends to come in.

It was three whole minutes before Santana and Brittany strolled through the doors in their ridiculous costumes. It didn't matter what they were disguised as because Chase had no idea what they looked like but they both _insisted_ they dress the part if they were going to help.

Santana, in her candy striper uniform, sauntered up to the desk first, followed by Brittany in her _sexy-school-girl-librarian-chic _outfit. It looked like she raided Rachel's closet and the blonde admitted to keeping some of the clothes Rachel let her borrow one time.

"But this is how Rachel dresses and Chase likes Rachel," Brittany argued as they modeled their outfits on Wednesday. Quinn had to admit that the point was valid and she allowed it. Santana's reasoning of, "Because look at me, I'm hot," didn't exactly win her over but she needed Santana's confidence to complete her task.

She filmed the two girls ordering their food and making small talk with each other loud enough for everyone around them to hear.

"Oh, I hope the tow truck hurries up," Brittany said, "Good thing this gymnastics place that we've never been to before serves food or else we would have starved."

Santana nodded, "I agree, Britts, although, it's a little chilly in here for this revealing outfit, and I hope no one stares at my legs."

"What the hell are they even doing," Quinn whispered harshly, forgetting that the video camera was recording.

The girls got their food but there was no sign of Chase so they took their trays to sit at one of the picnic tables. They continued their loud conversation and Quinn did everything in her power to not storm over to the two girls and yell at them for being anything but subtle.

Santana caught the attention of Chase as he walked towards the concession stand, "Excuse me, would you mind telling me where the napkins are?" she asked, licking her fingers slowly as the boy's eyes doubled in size as he finally saw who called for his attention.

"I'll get you some, Miss."

"Oh, you're _such _a doll."

He came back within seconds and placed the napkins on the table, Santana leaned forward a bit and stuck her face towards him, "Oh, would you mind?"

The boy was clearly jaded by Santana's cleavage staring him directly in the face because she somehow managed to get him to wipe her lips with one of the napkins when any normal person would have just done it themselves.

"You're cute, what's your name?" Brittany asked with an innocent tilt to her head.

"Chase," he replied after clearing his throat.

"Chase," Brittany tried out a few times, "I like it," she replied before turning to look at Santana. "What do you think? He'd be _perfect._"

"Perfect for what?"

"I don't know, Brit," she let her eyes survey his body, "I'm not sure that he can handle us."

"Handle you?"

"You're not intimidated by us, are you big boy? Because my girlfriend here has been _dying_ to find someone to join us and you're the first person she's taken a liking to…but if you're intimidated by that then we can find someone else more eager."

Quinn had to stifle her laughter at the look on his face and she could tell that he was quite eager if the tone of his voice was any indication.

Santana clicked her tongue and looked to Brittany, "I don't know." She sing-songed.

"I'll do _anything_," he pleaded.

Quinn must admit that boys were seriously stupid. Like, two pretty girls, dressed as ridiculously as her friends were, would seriously be asking him to join them for a threesome in the middle of a kid's gymnastics place? Then again, she was pretty positive that the father of her child would be acting the same way as Chase at that moment, too.

Brittany shrugged, "Maybe you could leave us your number and we'll consider it some more."

Chase frantically checked his pockets for a pen and nearly started crying when he couldn't find one.

"Here," Santana offered, pulling one from her cleavage before handing it to him. He wrote his number on a piece of paper and once Santana had the napkin safely nuzzled back between her breasts she gave the signal. Dumping her soda on Chase's head.

"Woops, it's my first day." Santana recited smugly as Quinn directed her to.

"What the hell?"

Quinn strolled up behind them with the video camera in her hand, "Wait 'til Rachel sees this."

"Like I actually care what she thinks. She's crazy."

Quinn reminded herself that she was surrounded by people that were already looking to see what all the commotion was.

"Well, you should, because your ass is _so_ gone."

Chase laughed, wiping some of the soda from his eyes, "Go ahead and show her."

"Seriously?" Santana asked as Brittany munched on her fries next to her, enjoying the show.

"Rachel dumped me…like, a few days ago."

"What?"

* * *

><p>"WHAT?" Julianna shrieks as she sits up from Beth's lap. "The Royal Jester broke up with Charming! What about the plan? The Castle Knights were going to trick Charming into going jousting, 'cause everyone knows that the Royal Jester <em>hates<em> jousting! It's too violent!"

Beth's head is spinning, "I thought you wanted them to break up?"

"I do! You can't just tell the story like that! What happened? Why did the Royal Jester—" Julianna's rant is stopped short as both girls hear the front door open.

Beth turns to the little girl and both their eyes are wide before Beth realizes that it's after midnight, "You were supposed to be sleeping four hours ago!" she quickly whispers while trying to figure out a way to either hide the six year old or smuggle her upstairs to her bedroom.

They can hear the impending heels on the hardwood floor and Beth squeezes her eyes shut, she's so never going to be allowed to babysit them ever again.

"How was everything? Were they good for you?"

Beth turns to answer before Julianna pops out from behind Beth's body, "Hi Mommy!"

"Julianna, what are you still doing awake? It's _way_ past your bed time," she turns to Beth, "Is she feeling okay? Nightmares again?"

"Beth was telling me a bedtime story!" she smiles before tugging on Beth's arm, "Right?" Beth nods and keeps her eyes trained on Julianna so she can avoid the inquisition regarding the six year old staying up four hours later for a bedtime story.

"I see…"

"It's not over yet, can Beth finish telling me? Please? Please, please, please Mommy?"

Beth is mentally chanting that the mom says no but instead she gives a small smile and takes a seat on the arm of the couch, "Of course, I'd love to hear the bedtime story Beth made up."

_Shoot_.

"It's not made up!" Julianna cries, "It's real! It's the best part! The Royal Jester _just_ dumped the evil Charming and the Queen Princess _just_ found out. She's in love with the Jester," Julianna nods decidedly, "I knew it all along."

"Oh really? That sounds quite exciting."

"Beth," the girl whines, "I wanna know the rest of the story."

Beth tilts her head up a bit, "You want to know the rest of the story, huh?" Beth stalls a bit, "Why don't you ask your mommy?"

Julianna's eyebrows are quite comical as she tries to understand what the heck Beth is talking about before her eyes gradually grow into saucers as she looks back and forth from her mom to Beth.

She stands to her feet and bounces on the cushion, "_You're_ the Queen Princess?" she asks her Mom, her voice dripping with awe. She looks back to Beth, "Mommy is the _Queen Princess?_"

Quinn laughs and places her hand over her mouth as she watches her middle child stare at her oldest, her smile trying not to break out into a huge grin because she hasn't yet gotten confirmation yet.

Beth bites her lip and turns back to look at her mom.

Quinn removes her hand from her mouth and tries to keep a straight face, "The Queen Princess, huh?" she asks Beth who merely shrugs before turning to Julianna and holding out her arms, "Is that what you're calling me now?"

"Are you?"

Quinn nods and winces playfully as Julianna screams in excitement. She stands up and does a little dance on the carpet before straightening and growing serious, "If you're the Queen Princess, does that mean that the Royal Jester is-?"

"Whoa, what's with the screaming?"

Puck rounds the bend of the foyer and comes to a rest next to Quinn.

"Hey Dad," Beth greets.

"Excuse me!" Julianna huffs, "Are you the Royal Jester or what?"

"What in the _world_ are you talking about, Munchkin? Shouldn't you be in bed?" he turns to look at Beth and Quinn just shrugs.

"Beth has been telling her a bedtime story."

Puck nods, "Ahhh."

"Well…are you?" the girl taps her foot impatiently, a skill she recently acquired from her mother.

He looks to Beth, "I…don't know?"

"Sorry about that, I left my phone in the car," the front door closes and Julianna turns to Beth as she waits for her explanation.

"_That's_ the Royal Jester," she finally tells her.

Julianna's eyes light up and she races across the carpet and skids on the hallway floor and runs right into Rachel's legs, "Oh my, goodness, what are you doing awake? And why are you so hyper?"

Rachel comes into view as she walks slowly with Julianna still attached to her side, she looks to the others for an answer.

"Beth has been telling her a certain bedtime story," Puck replies and Rachel smiles a bit in her direction.

"I see." She looks down to her daughter, "And what's this bedtime story about?"

"You're the one! You're the Royal Jester and the Queen Princess is in love with you!"

"Oh really?"

Julianna nods eagerly and begins pulling Rachel towards the couch, "You have to tell me why you dumped Charming!"

"Okay, okay," she says as she struggles to take her heels off before taking a seat on the couch and pulling Julianna into her lap.

"I gotta get going, Grace is in the car, just wanted to come in and say good night," he kisses Beth on her forehead, "I'll see you tomorrow? You're my badminton partner, right?"

"Defending champs," she reaches her fist to bump her dad's.

"That's my girl."

He kisses Julianna and then Rachel before Quinn walks him to the door to send him off.

"C'mon, c'mon," Julianna urges, "I need to know what happened."

"Well _I_ need to know where you left off," Rachel replies in the same tone with false irritation.

Julianna breezes through the gist of the story in a matter of seconds and waits for Rachel to continue it for her. Rachel sends Beth an approving nod as Quinn rejoins them and sits on the arm of the couch next to Beth.

"Okay, well, the Queen Princess _obviously_ fell in love with the Royal Jester because she was beautiful, talented, funny, outgoing, smart—"

"Modest," Quinn chimes in and Beth holds her hand out for her to high-five.

Rachel flashes a playful glare to her wife, "As I was saying, it took a while for the Queen Princess to realize it but she had fallen in love with the Royal Jester…and the Royal Jester had some decisions to make."

* * *

><p>Rachel flinched as she heard the door slam echo throughout the auditorium as Quinn left her alone.<p>

"Are we okay?" she had asked.

"I'm not sure," Quinn replied.

Rachel's heart had sunk. She didn't like fighting with Quinn, it happened maybe once or twice before but it never felt right. They weren't supposed to fight. They overcame the odds and became the best of friends, she didn't like when they wasted their time with petty fights. Something about this argument seemed more real, like it was going to lead to something bigger than it already was becoming.

Sure, Rachel knew that Chase wasn't _amazing_ but she was willing to settle for him because it was the best she was going to get given the circumstances. It's not who she had in mind, but she'd rather have someone to fill the void than be reminded how alone she was. It started out as innocent when she asked Quinn to help her find a boyfriend, she figured that they could bond over it, it's what most girls her age did, right? Bond over cute boys? Kill two birds with one stone, though she never really did like that expression. She'd rather kill no birds and let the stone be a part of nature but it was only a metaphor and she appreciated a good metaphor. She never really imagined it would land her where it did, comparing every person she went out with to the person that was helping her find someone. It was a sad coincidence and one that she couldn't get over. In the beginning, it was fun, towards the middle it was slightly surprising to her how quickly she ended up falling for her friend, and towards the end, it was heart wrenchingly painful. She stood no chance, it's not like she could waltz up to the blonde and declare her feelings, stuff didn't work like that. She realized, quite helplessly, that she was going to be forced to settle for someone that just wouldn't come close to her perfect person. Her perfect person was Quinn, and as much as it hurt her, she'd rather have her as a friend than scare her away forever.

She needed to do some thinking. The way Quinn had been so adamant about Chase not being good enough for her, the way she was so passionate about everything regarding the situation, could it have meant that there was a chance she could feel the same way about her and just not know it? Should she risk letting go of Chase on the off chance that Quinn might be receptive of those types of feelings? She didn't necessarily disagree with all of Quinn's points, but if she broke up with Chase, she'd be alone and reminded _every_ day of the life that she wished she had. She'd be tormented every time they hung out, slept in the same bed for a sleepover, took Beth out for errands, and even when they were alone in the auditorium during lunch. She was already tempted enough as it was to act on her feelings, and she sometimes cried softly to herself in her mirror as she thought about how Beth and Quinn would never truly be hers, they'd never be the small little makeshift family that she often dreamed about before she went to bed. She'd be the best friend and occasional babysitter for the rest of her life.

Still, after seeing Quinn react that way, she needed to at least do _something_. Clearly, she was going to break up with Chase, because there was no way that she'd let the boy get in between the friendship that they had, it meant too much to her. She was also going to be a little pro-active in the Quinn department. Maybe, test the waters, so to speak.

"_What's the Royal Jester going to do?" Julianna asks as she plays with her mother's rings._

"_Well, she's going to consult the help of…" Rachel looks to Beth, "Who is Kurt?"_

_Beth runs through her list and, "Fairy Godfather."_

_Quinn chokes on her water, "Fairy Godfather? I thought this was a medieval story."_

_Beth glares at her mother, "It's a bedtime story, there are no rules."_

"_I agree!" Rachel chimes in, "The Jester is going to have the Fairy Godfather work some of his magic."_

"_Is he going to cast a spell on the Queen?" Julianna looks to her Mom, "Did he cast a spell on you?"_

_Quinn chuckles, "You ask a lot of questions, little one."_

"You have to help me!" Rachel pleaded as she walked into Kurt's bedroom after Finn let her in.

"Hello to you, too, Rachel," he nodded from his seat in front of his vanity mirror, "No time for pleasantries, I see. To what do I owe the frantic pleasure?"

"It's Quinn."

"What about her?"

"You need to tell her that she should be in love with me."

"Ohhhhkay, this is a big one," he muttered under his breath as he put his lotion down. He stood from his chair and took a seat on the bed, "How would you like me to do that?"

"I don't care! I just need to know how she'll react."

"React to what?"

"React to the thought of being with me, in a more than friendly way."

His eyebrow quirked though it wasn't surprising, "You want to date Quinn Fabray?"

"Precisely."

"I can't say that I'm not shocked, I've kind of figured this would happen sooner or later. The way she stares at you—"

"She stares at me? When? How? Re-enact it. What else have you noticed? Do you think she likes me?"

"Take it easy."

"I'm sorry, this is just scary."

"I understand," Kurt replied, "I'll help you, okay? That's what friends are for."

Rachel denied the impulse to begin humming the song out loud and instead tackled Kurt on the bed, "You're the best, thank you."

"You know," Kurt wheezed out as Rachel continued to hug him, "I still don't like what Quinn said about you last year, I was the one that saw your devastation, remember?"

"I've forgotten about that, it's in the past, another lifetime ago, really. She's a new person because of that and besides, you saw how she took responsibility and she hasn't let me down since."

"Right," Kurt straightened out his shirt, "Well, get on with it."

"Get on with what?"

"How it happened. How is it that you fell for Quinn Fabray and what makes you think that she could possibly have fallen for you, too?"

Rachel bit her lip in hesitation, "Well…"

And she told Kurt _everything_. He hadn't really wanted to hear about it while it was happening because he didn't like the thought of Rachel befriended Quinn in the first place but even he had his hand to his chest and tears in his eyes as Rachel recounted their moments together. Rachel was _sure _that Kurt was the right person to go to, if anyone could bitch slap someone with reality, it was him.

Kurt even went with her to meet Chase when he got off of work that day. For moral support, of course. She would have asked Quinn because she was _sure_ that the blonde would have loved to see Chase's face but she didn't think it was appropriate.

"Rach, what's up?" Chase readjusted his strap to his back pack and glanced at Kurt, "Everything okay?"

"It's about us." Rachel wasted no time. Like a band-aid, Kurt told her in the car, she needed to get it over with.

"Ohhhkay? What about us?"

She closed her eyes and gave it hell, "I'm sorry Chase but I can no longer date you."

"Okay."

Rachel opened an eye, "Okay?"

"Yeah."

"What do you mean _okay_?"

"I mean, okay." he annunciated slowly for her.

"No begging? No throwing yourself onto the ground and pleading for me to take you back? You're not even demanding an explanation? All you have to say is 'okay'?"

Chase looked at her as if she had a few extra heads, "Yup, pretty much."

"Well, why?"

"Rach, perhaps we should take the _W_ and go on home." Kurt said from the sidelines.

Chase took a sip of his soda, "No offense Rachel, you're kind of high-maintenance and a lot of work."

"Quinn doesn't think so," Rachel mumbled under her breath.

"And I'm sure that Quinn already told you about what she saw on Saturday, so…it's been a good run?"

"I can't believe this. _Finn_ and I had a more passionate break up than _this_! Unbelievable!"

"Well, what do you want me to say? It's not like we were going to last very long, you're all about New York and stuff and I _hate_ musicals," Rachel's jaw dropped, "and I've been kinda cheating on you all along."

Rachel squared her shoulders, "No, _I_ have been cheating on you! Emotionally…with Quinn."

Rachel was _determined_ to have _some_ kind of fight, it was in her nature. She wanted to go out with a bang. Screw the cheating stuff, who hated musicals? Not someone she wanted to be with.

"Okay."

Rachel stomped her foot and looked to Kurt for help, who merely shrugged. Chase was infuriating her, why couldn't he at least _pretend_ to care that Rachel was breaking up with him. She wanted some kind of triumph and she even bought icecream from the _7/11_ in anticipation of the post-breakup binge before she got her game face on and went after Quinn. This was just pitiful. She didn't even actually _like _the kid but she was dramatic and damn it, she wanted her soap opera break up!

"Let me see if I understand, not only are you indifferent about our break-up, but you don't care that the only reason I dated you was because I was trying to fill the void of not having Quinn?"

Chase scratched the back of his head, "I guess?"

"Well," Rachel huffed and began pacing, "I'll just…" she pointed a finger at Chase before groaning, "I'll tell you what I'm going to do," she mumbled some more and continued her pacing, "You messed with the wrong girl."

Chase looked at Kurt, "Is she okay?"

Kurt shrugged again and inspected his nails, "It's best to just give Rachel her moment."

Chase also shrugged and turned back to Rachel, "Please, Rachel, don't dump me." he stated dryly. "How will I ever go on?"

"Ohhohoho no no," Rachel shook her head, "Don't think you can _beg _for my forgiveness now, you made your grave."

"Fine. If that's the way you want it," Chase replied, "Quinn is a white trash teen mom and you're never going to go to New York, I hope you have a good life together. Can I go home now?"

Rachel gasped and marched forward, grabbing the drink out of Chase's hand and ripping the lid off in order to dump it on his head.

"That's for spilling soda on Quinn!" she backed away with that triumphant glimmer to her eye that she'd been searching for all along, "And the other things you said."

She turned on her heel and proceeded to her car, waiting for Kurt to join her in the passenger seat before backing out of the parking lot and leaving Chase to wallow in his self pity.

"I think it will take a long time for him to get over me, don't you think?" Rachel asked as she turned back onto the main road.

Kurt stared at her with amusement and awe of what happened inside that little head of hers, "Honey, he'll forever rue the day that he let you get away."

Rachel turned to him with her thousand watt smile, glad that she had him as her gay best friend. He knew exactly what to say to her.

"_Oh, I get it now! The fairy godfather is the one that helped the Queen Princess realize she liked the Jester?"_

"_That's right, how'd you get so smart?" Rachel tickles her daughter._

"_That'd be my doing," Quinn chimes in from the end of the couch._

_Julianna asks with furrowed brows, "It was all the Jester's idea?"_

"_Yes."_

"_The Jester is _so_ smart."_

_Rachel smiles, rather smugly, in her wife's direction as Quinn rolls her eyes._

It had been exactly four days since Quinn and Rachel got into their small fight in the auditorium resulting in the dumping of Chase and it had been three days since Kurt intervened with everything and helped Quinn to realize that she was what Rachel wanted. Rachel hadn't attempted to talk to Quinn, she was too nervous. She was afraid she'd say something wrong or maul her face with her lips if she got too close. She kept her distance, but only because she figured that Quinn would freak out if she was pressured too much. She'd give her a day so that she could let it seep in. Though, her mind started working overtime and she constantly analyzed every aspect of their relationship, hoping to convince herself further that Quinn maybe returned her feelings. But the facts remained, Quinn hadn't attempted to speak to Rachel, either. What if the plan backfired? What if Quinn really didn't like Rachel? What if she was already freaked out at the very thought of being considered an option for the brunette? _That_ had Rachel not approaching Quinn for the remaining two days of silence. It was Friday, and their fight happened on Monday. It was the longest they'd gone without speaking since the year before and it was already torturous. Rachel barely saw Quinn in school, other than classes, but even then, Quinn was distracted and seemed to be talking to herself quietly as she wrote things down in a notebook. She was hanging out with Santana and Brittany a lot, too.

Rachel was intimidated. The last thing she wanted to do was scare Quinn further so she continued to keep her distance, hoping that Quinn would come to her when she was ready.

Friday evening, the doorbell chimed through the house, and she reminded herself not to get her hopes up. Seeing as how the previous 6 doorbell rings throughout the week weren't from Quinn, either. She waited at the top of her stairwell, curious as to who could be ringing her doorbell.

"Quinn!" Rachel's heart dropped, "What a pleasant surprise! Come on in," her father opened the door wider in order for Quinn to step inside. "Hi Beth!"

Quinn couldn't see her at the top of the stairs from her position in front of the door but Beth could see her perfectly and Rachel smiled with a sting to her eyes as Beth's face lit up, "Yachel!"

She took off for the stairs, easily wiggling out of her mother's grip on her hand and ignoring Quinn's protests, Rachel ventured down a few steps but Beth was too fast for her and ended up meeting her at the top of the stairs.

"Hi babygirl!" Rachel lifted up the toddler and held her close to her chest in a hug, "I've missed you! Can I have a kiss?" she stuck her cheek out and Beth planted a somewhat messy kiss on it before ducking her head into Rachel's neck bashfully.

Rachel carefully took the steps one by one, somewhat delaying seeing Quinn and also preventing a clumsy fall down the stairs while holding a child. She made eye contact and instead of seeing irritation on Quinn's face, she saw soft eyes lined with wetness as she watched the two girls together. Her smile was faint and her head was tilted slightly in wonder. Rachel smiled and shifted her weight in order to support Beth's weight.

"Hello Quinn."

Quinn swallowed, "Hi Rachel."

Mr. Berry looked back and forth between the two girls and held his arms out, "Beth, would you like to see the hamster?"

Beth was already squirming out of Rachel's grip in order to get to the other man who would take her to the furry creature that entertained her.

Both girls waited until Mr. Berry and Beth disappeared down the hallway before turning to one another.

"Hi," Quinn started.

Rachel replied, "Hi."

Quinn shook her head, "This is weird."

Rachel closed her eyes with a wince, "I'm sorry, it shouldn't be. It's my fault."

"No, it's mine."

"Quinn, no…I shouldn't have—"

"You broke up with Chase."

"I…did. How did you know that?"

Quinn shouldered off her jacket as she walked further into the house and towards the living room, she studied her surroundings as if she hadn't been there in years.

"Why didn't you tell me?"

Rachel walked into the living room and took protection behind the couch, feeling better that there was something separating the two of them while they had this conversation.

Rachel let her head hang in shame, "I don't know, we haven't exactly been talking this week." She shrugged.

It was Quinn's turn to hang her head, "I'm sorry, I've been…distracted."

Rachel nodded and ran her hand over the back of the couch, "I understand."

"I had an interesting conversation with Kurt." Quinn's tone was light and somewhat prying in a teasing manner.

"Wait…before you say anything, I need to get this out. I'm sorry I had Kurt intervene, I'm sure it freaked you out, and I'm sure that's why you've been distant lately. I gave you space because I assumed that's what you wanted but I miss you. This week was miserable without you and I'm sorry that I ruined our friendship. If you'll allow it, I'd like to just forget everything that's happened."

Quinn gnawed on her inner lower lip as she stared at the brunette carefully, "Can I ask you something?"

Rachel's mouth opened and closed a few times while she settled her nerves, "Sure."

"You told Kurt to come to me?" Her tone was most definitely not light anymore, Rachel could tell she was surprised by the information, "Does that mean you feel the same way?"

"Oh."

Quinn chuckled slightly, "Oh?"

"I've talked myself into a hole, haven't I?"

Quinn laughed more heartily and took a step towards the couch, "Just a small one." Rachel avoided eye contact at all costs, even as Quinn took a seat on the tan couch, "Today Chase told me that you dumped him…on Monday afternoon."

"Oh," Rachel replied again. She had nothing more to offer.

"After Santana, Brittany, and I made quite a scene trying to catch him flirting with them."

"Oh my…" Rachel trailed off.

"I wish I would have known I didn't have to worry about getting rid of him, I probably would have come to you sooner." Rachel cleared her throat but stayed silent, afraid that she'd talk herself into another hole if she opened her mouth again. "Not to mention the whole awakening experience with Kurt, and now I find out that you're the reason _and_ cause of my sleepless nights?"

Rachel left the safety of the back of the couch and sat next to Quinn, "I had a big speech prepared but this is so hard."

"What's hard?"

"Being next to you and not being able to express what it does to me. How difficult it is to look at you and know what I want to tell you but not being able to find the words."

"Can you handle yes or no questions?"

Rachel bit her lip, "I think so."

"You broke up with Chase?"

"Yes."

"Because he was flirting with other girls?"

"No."

"Because I didn't like him?"

"Yes and No."

"Because _you_ didn't like him?"

"Yes."

"You asked Kurt to come to me?"

"Yes."

"Because you wanted me to…?"

Rachel took a deep breath, "React positively to learning that you're what I want."

"Oh." Quinn physically leant back and rubbed her forehead, pushing her bangs away from her face. Rachel looked down to her lap, not ready for Quinn to provide her with an explanation as to why they'd never work. "Well, I did."

"What?"

Quinn settled her gaze on Rachel as her head snapped back to make sure she heard correctly, "I did…react positively."

"But…you haven't approached me, or said anything. I thought you—I thought you were avoiding me. Wait, positively? So, that means…?"

Quinn shook her head a bit with a smile, she'd be forced to say it since Rachel wasn't taking the hints, "I like you."

"Oh."

"You like me, too, don't you? I mean, why else would you send Kurt to—"

"Yes!" Rachel swallowed, "I mean, yeah, I do. I just, wow…" she attempted to clear her head, "Now what?"

Quinn sighed and shrugged, "We hang out?"

"Hang out?"

Quinn laughed, "You're acting like I just asked you to go on a killing spree...can you relax?"

"Sorry," Rachel inhaled and exhaled a few times, "What will we do?"

"I don't know…do what we always do?"

"Campaign for prom queen and find me a boyfriend?"

"Okay, not exactly." Quinn thought for a bit. They seemed to work well when there was some kind of deal or plan going on, it's how they became friends in the first place, and continued their friendship. "Do you want to help me plan Beth's 2nd birthday party?"

"Really?"

Quinn smiled, "Well, yeah. Santana dumped a soda on Chase's head so I don't think we'll be having it at the gymnastics place."

"I dumped a soda on his head, too!"

The two girls shared a laugh and Quinn rested her hand on Rachel's thigh as they settled down. A silence fell over them and Quinn ducked her head in order to find Rachel's eyes, "Nothing has to change between us, I'm still the same person. We're still best friends…only, more now."

"I know, it's just…are you sure?"

"I'm positive, Rach."

Rachel cracked a smile, "Okay, good."

"So, we're okay?"

Rachel nodded, "Yes, definitely more than okay."

The brunette leaned forward first with her arms out and Quinn mimicked her in order to receive the hug Rachel was offering.

And they lived happily ever after.

"_That's it!A hug?" Julianna shoots up from Rachel's lap and glares at both of her mothers, "Mommy, all you did was hug her?"_

_Quinn stifles her laughter and gestures for Rachel to explain this one. Once again, Rachel glares at the blonde for putting her in this position. _

"_Yes, they hugged, and that's all your little ears need to hear."_

"_At least kiss her or something!"_

_Beth had the same reaction when she was younger but she was old enough now to assume that they probably didn't just hug that night but she cringes when she thinks about it, especially when she sees Rachel and her mom sharing weird smiles. _

"_And what about the Spring Ball and the jeweled crown that the Queen Princess wanted so bad! This story stinks!"_

"_Language." Quinn reminds her._

"_If you must know, the Jester and the Princess didn't kiss that night," Beth is pretty sure Rachel's lying but she keeps her mouth shut, "They had a slumber party at the Queen's castle and stayed up all night talking about how much they liked each other and formulated game plans on how they'd present themselves around the land of McKinley."_

"_Actually, the jester was the one who made the game plans."_

"_Here nor there, what's important is that the jester and princess lived happily ever after, as you can see."_

"_At least tell her about the Spring Ball," Beth urges, it was her favorite part of the entire story._

"_It's past both of your bedtimes." _

"_It's _summer._" Julianna and Beth reply at the same time._

_It's not hard to break Rachel, "Very well then."_

"Beth you look _so_ pretty, just like mommy!" Rachel crouched down so that she could be eye-level with the little girl, "I love your dress."

"Thank you."

"And your crown, are you a princess?"

Beth nods her head up and down before touching Rachel with the wand in her hand. It was their senior prom and their friends were all gathered at Quinn's house in order to take pictures. Puck scooped his daughter up from behind and Rachel winced a bit at the shrill giggles, "Are you going to be Daddy's date tonight?"

"Yeah!"

"I wish kiddo," he kissed Beth on the forehead and began singing her song as he danced with her around the living room.

Rachel turned as she heard her name being called from the bottom of the stairwell, it was Quinn, finally emerging from her bedroom so they could all take pictures.

"You look beautiful," Rachel whispered.

Quinn ducked her head, "So do you."

Rachel held her hand out for Quinn to take, "C'mon, let's go take pictures. Our parents are dying in anticipation."

Quinn chuckled and allowed the brunette to lead her towards the rest of their friends as they lined up in front of the fireplace.

The dance was held in the gym again, the glee club not having to worry about performing at their own senior prom as the school raised enough money to hire a DJ. They knew what to expect, one last hurrah—aside from Nationals— before they graduated. It was bittersweet but they all tried to put it in the back of their minds. Especially Quinn and Rachel, August would approach fast and Rachel would be off to New York with Kurt while Quinn stayed in Ohio to work part time as Sue Sylvester's assistant coach and attended part time classes at the community college. It wasn't her ideal job but Sue was going to pay her triple what anyone else would offer her and she needed to start saving whatever she could get if she planned on visiting Rachel in New York. She could have moved in with Rachel and Kurt but she opted against it, wanting to stay in Lima and secure a little bit of education and money while she still could lean on her mom for support.

It made the most sense to her, she was a mother now and she had to think about everything in a different light. Though, as time wore on, and their relationship got stronger and more serious, she received more and more literature about grammar and private schools in the surrounding tri-state area for Beth. She'd eventually get her Associate's Degree, move to a small town in Connecticut thirty minutes from the city with her mother, and enroll Beth into a well respected catholic school a few blocks over. But that wouldn't be for a few more years.

It was about ten minutes until the prom candidates would be called to the stage when Quinn snuck up behind Rachel at the refreshment table and tugged on her arm to follow her.

"Where are we going?" Rachel asked as Quinn led her out into the hallway, "Figgins is about to announce prom queen!"

Quinn ignored her and pushed open the doors to the auditorium.

"What are we doing in here?"

Quinn turned around and smirked, "If you have to ask that, you really don't realize how important this room is to us."

Rachel shook her head but smiled a bit as Quinn twirled towards the center of the room in her pink dress, her giddiness was contagious.

"What about prom queen? You'll miss your name being called."

That was why Quinn loved Rachel, the sure confidence that she had that Quinn would win.

"I don't care about that."

"What! What do you mean you don't care about that? We made chocolates, and posters, and handed out pens with your name on them, and what about the little princess crown pins with your picture? You take that back right this instant," Rachel marched forward and desperately tried to keep a straight face to conquer Quinn's lazy smile.

She took both her hands, "It was never about that."

"It wasn't?"

Quinn continued to smile and tugged on her hands playfully, "No. It was about getting closer to you. I don't care about prom queen or any of that. I care about you."

"Well…" Rachel was speechless, "Well, I wish you would have told me that before I spent so much time calling everyone in the McKinley phone book to make sure they voted for you."

"I love you."

Rachel smiled, the pretend anger she had was falling away effortlessly, "I love _you_."

Quinn leaned forward and closed the distance between them so she could kiss her girlfriend. Rachel melted into her like she normally did when Quinn kissed her like that, the heel of her shoe coming off the ground an inch in order to get as close to Quinn as physically possible.

They pulled away, Rachel's eyes shined with awe as she stared up at the girl she once hated.

"It was about finding me a boyfriend," Quinn rolled her eyes and prepared to throw a sarcastic comment back before Rachel stopped her, "But," Rachel brought her hands up to her cheeks to still her, "But, I fell for you along the way so it makes up for it."

"Maybe." Quinn replied, her smirk showing because she couldn't possibly pretend to be mad at Rachel even if she tried, "You're lucky I think you're cute."

"You're just lucky."

"I am."

* * *

><p>"Then what happened?" Julianna demands with a wide smile on her face.<p>

Quinn speaks up, "The Jester went on to perform for the land of Manhattan and eventually, the world."

"The whole world?" Julianna asks with wide eyes.

"Yup, and the Princess was by her side the entire time," Rachel adds, "Not always physically," the brunette points a finger to her daughter's chest, "But in her heart."

"And now, they live in a beautiful castle in a village called West Chester, where they have two beautiful princesses and a handsome little prince, who will grow up to have their own fairy tales one day."

"Really? I'll get a fairy tale, too?"

"Of course!"

"And I'll get to tell it to my daughter?"

"Yup."

"That is _so_ cool! Tell it again!"

"Ohhhh no. You are going to sleep, we have a big day tomorrow. Grandma, Pop Pop, and Grandpa are coming to visit for the Fourth of July weekend!" Rachel lifts up her daughter and sets her down on the ground, "We're going to the beach, and having a barbecue…"

"What else?" Julianna bounces next to Rachel as they walk down the hallway.

"And going swimming in the pool, and drawing with sidewalk chalk, and baking a pie with Grandpa, and throwing water balloons at Aunt Santana, and pushing Mommy in the pool…" Rachel's voice trails off as she gets further and further up the stairs.

"I'm so pushing her in the pool first," Quinn mutters as she takes a seat next to Beth as she laughs to herself. "What made you tell Jules that story?"

Beth shrugs, "I don't know."

"You okay?"

Beth looks up, "Yeah, just miss it. Being a kid and stuff, Julianna was so excited and it reminded me of when you and Mom used to tell me."

"You know that Rachel would be more than happy to tell you it whenever you want."

"I know," Beth replies but wants to change the subject. She's feeling rather nostalgic and the thoughts could make her cry if she's not careful, "How was the play and dinner?"

"It was good," Quinn decides, "After years of attending Broadway shows, I no longer need Rach to whisper in my ear the significance of certain things, and dinner was good. We met Aunt San and Britt at the restaurant."

"They're all coming this weekend, right? They're staying in the guest rooms?"

Quinn nods, "Dad is picking up Uncle Kurt from the airport tomorrow morning and they're all staying here, yes. Why are you smiling like that? Beth, you better not be thinking about playing capture the flag in the house again like last year."

"Aw come on, that was _so_ fun. Everyone loved it!"

"No, and I mean absolutely _no_ water balloons or boobie traps this time, got it?"

"Sure, of _course_, Mom. You have nothing to worry about."

"Stop smirking."

"You're just mad that your team lost last year."

Rachel walks back into the living room in shorts and one of her wife's sweatshirts to catch Beth and Quinn in the middle of a stare down, "What's up?"

Quinn turns to her wife and reaches her hand out so she can pull Rachel towards her and into her lap.

"J wants you," Rachel tells her, "To say goodnight, and to bribe you into telling her the story again, you must stay strong."

Quinn turns to Beth again, "Look what you started."

"You're the ones that told _me_ the story!"

"Yeah, yeah." Quinn leans forward and kisses Rachel quickly before hopping up and jogging towards the stairs.

"She's so excited, we're going to have to tell her some of the other ones to placate her." Rachel comments, "I left you some money on your bed for watching them, don't tell your mother how much I gave you."

Beth rolls her eyes, it's probably way too much but she'd be an idiot to try to be the hero and give it back to Rachel, she's a teenager, she needs whatever money she can get. "Thanks."

"Why don't you get some PJs on, we're gonna watch a movie."

"Last time we '_watched a movie'_ I was scarred for life, no thank you."

"We hadn't seen each other for a month!" Rachel bickers playfully.

"It's not my fault you're a judge on some singing competition that takes you away from Mom for a whole month, you don't do those things in front of your children."

Rachel turns and smiles and Beth returns it because she knows that even after all these years, Rachel still brightens when Beth refers to herself as Rachel's child. Even though she's been doing it since her Mom and Rachel moved in together eight years ago, and well before that, too.

"Soooo, that's a no on the movie then?"

Beth begins to stand, she's still in her outfit from the day and needs to change, "That's a definite no. Actually, have you seen one of those old DVD players? Do we have one still?"

Rachel flips through the movie channels, "Um yeah, I think so, in the basement there's one," she replies distractedly.

"Thanks."

"MmHmm."

Beth jogs down the basement stairs and finds what she's looking for, unhooking the cables and tucking it into her side. She grabs a water and turns the lights off before running back up the stairs. Her mom and Rachel are in the kitchen together, giggling about something and she doesn't want to know what it is.

She turns the corner and prepares herself. She sees them kissing, Rachel on her tippy toes as her mom holds her waist; they're both smiling and look like complete fools in love. It makes Beth smile, while she's normally mortified by the public displays of affection between them—because no one wants to see her parents mack on each other while they're in the middle of a restaurant— she doesn't mind it as much when they're alone. It's normal and comforting. She hopes one day that she'll have something like that with someone, a fairy tale of her own.

She clears her throat and they break apart comically so they can pretend like they weren't just making out. Beth forgets sometimes that her parents are only like 32 years old, they're the youngest parents in the neighborhood, and she's pretty sure no one else in her high school has parents _that_ young. They're basically still kids.

It does get a tad weird sometimes, when they waltz into a room and start blatantly talking about boys and sex, and Mohawks and all kinds of things that her parents shouldn't be discussing while Beth has company over. But her friends love them and Beth has to admit, they are pretty cool parents.

Although, the pressure is _on_ when it comes down to her various chorus groups. She's the daughter of Rachel Berry, rock princess, entertainment mogul, Broadway veteran, and record company producer, not to mention the latest addition to her overwhelming resume, reality singing competition judge. Networks are _dying_ to make a reality show about Rachel's home life but she downright refuses every time. Her favorite Rachel is the one she sees at home, in sweatpants with her Mom next to her in matching attire. It's the one she grew up with.

"I'm going to bed," Beth announces, "Wake me up early, I wanna put fake spiders in Aunt San's bed."

"You torment her enough," Quinn sighs.

"Ohh Good idea," Rachel replies. She looks to Quinn, "What? She hates spiders."

"Okay, goodnight," she says quickly before Quinn starts lecturing both of them, Rachel also sees this as an out and approaches Beth, "Love you."

Rachel kisses her on her cheek, "Love you, too."

Quinn hugs her daughter, "Goodnight, love you."

"Love you, too."

She turns and makes her way down the hallway towards the staircase, "And I _love_ you," she hears her mom tell Rachel as they both giggle.

She sets the old DVD player next to her TV and attempts to hook it up, hoping her TV will have the right inputs to plug it in. She struggles a bit, because technology has never been her forte but she manages to put it on the right channel and it's up and running. She goes into the wooden chest at the end of her bed and digs through it until she gets to a small photo box covered with gold stars that's been sitting at the bottom for years.

She sifts through old pictures from her childhood, pictures of her mom, and dad, grandparents, and many from the first year her Moms spent together. Pictures of her first time in New York, her first play, first day of school, school dances, and holidays that they spent together as a family. She has Playbills, and small souvenirs, and even a few birthday cards. She finds what she was looking for and she leaves everything scattered on her bed so she can put the DVD into the player. She hasn't seen it in years, almost forgetting that it even existed but after telling her little sister the bedtime story, it instantly came back to her. The way she'd watch it every night before bed while Rachel was in New York, just because it became something familiar to do.

She smiles as each kid comes on the screen, saying her name and smiling like they one day knew she'd be watching the DVD when she was old enough to understand the words. She feels the prickle of tears behind her eyes, wondering where some of them are in the world and what they were doing. Her mom only keeps in contact with four of them, Santana, Brittany, Kurt, and her dad, but she still remembers their faces as if she saw them the other day. Her dad sings her song to her, Aunt Brittany teaches her a dance routine to a popular song, Aunt San teaches her how to properly give herself a manicure, and Uncle Kurt teaches her everything she needs to know about Fashion in 2010, and it's funny because their roles haven't changed a bit. Rachel's message is last and she just nearly loses it as the nostalgic feeling washes over her and she wishes she could be a kid again.

"_And now I will give you the Rachel Berry list of things you need to know for the world."_

Beth chuckles because Rachel's _still_ about lists. She settles back against her head board and holds an old teddy bear that her dad won her from a carnival when she was younger and lets her tears fall freely. The song starts, _Babygirl_, and she continues to cry because her parents _still_ call her that, and they've even started to call her little sister that.

"I _knew_ I heard my voice, it was like God but…Rachel Berry," her door opens further and she turns to find her mom and Rachel in the doorway. They both frown when they see Beth and enter the room and sit on either side of her on the bed. "What's wrong, babygirl?" Quinn asks.

"Stop," Beth sobs and laughs at the same time, because of course her mom would know exactly what not to say when she's in such a fragile state, "I'm fine."

"You're blubbering." Rachel points out before fanning her face, "And now I'm going to start crying, you know how easy it is for me to cry!" she swipes both eyes with the back of her two forefingers and continues to fan her face with both hands.

"Both of you stop," Quinn replies, also bordering on tears. "Why are we crying?"

"I'm just so happy you felt fat that day," Beth says through her tears and Rachel hugs her while Quinn laughs and shakes her head causing some tears to spill over her eyes.

"I can't believe you just said that. Who told you that?"

"I did," Rachel replies and they laugh again. "I'm happy you were fat that day, too."

All three of them continue to sob and laugh, "Why are we such messes?"

"I don't know but I love you guys," Rachel replies.

"Come here," Quinn opens her arms and both girls scoot over.

"Will you sing for me," Beth asks as she starts to return to normal after a few minutes, Rachel and Quinn start crying again.

"Really?" Rachel asks with shiny eyes. "You want me to sing for you?"

Beth knows this is a big deal, she hasn't asked her parents for a bedtime story or to sing to her in over six years, "Both of you."

Quinn kisses her forehead and puts her arm around her shoulders as they sink into the pillows, Rachel also puts her arm around Beth's shoulders. Their free hands link and Beth suddenly finds herself in a warm makeshift shelter as she curls into her mom, her feet just barely touching the pictures still scattered there.

Beth hears the opening lines to the song Rachel sang to her on the DVD but they're coming from her mom, and she smiles as Rachel takes the next line. And they alternate until they're sure that Beth is safely sleeping, hopefully dreaming about Princesses and Jesters, and Knights in shining armor. And even after they finish the last notes to the songs they sang, they fall asleep with Beth between them, much like they did their first official night together fifteen years ago.

And they'll forever live happily ever after.


End file.
